


Love's Little Lies

by UniversalSatan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AND THEY HAVE BAD MORALS, M/M, and now im gonna rant, because the first bit of the fic is kinda cringet, cringey, honestly im not gonna try with the tags, i put those there a long time ago, i started this on wattpad and started it a while ago, okay but other than that im sorry i update once like every millenia, which is why its kinda bad oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-04-15 06:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4596939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniversalSatan/pseuds/UniversalSatan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are two popular groups in their high school - and they both hate each other.<br/>Dan Howell is the leader of the Bears, who on the most part are jocks and dicks.<br/>Phil Lester is the leader of the Lions, the drama kids that have mean personalities.<br/>Between fraternizing with Foxes (popular girls) and keeping up with their egos, Dan and Phil start to spend time with each other. Soon, their relationship becomes a mess of nasty pranks and trust issues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Phil

Phil sat bored at his desk, humming a rude song he had made up himself about his grumpy, middle-aged Maths teacher. Every time he saw Mr. Henderson look in his general direction, he snickered and whispered the words to himself.

"Hey, Phil?" his friend Chris nudged his shoulder, not caring whether their Maths teacher could hear them chatting, "Did you hear that Evan is having a party tonight at 9? His parents are out of town for business or something."

"Yeah, thought I heard something about that."

"I think I'm going to go... should I drive by yours and pick you up?"

"Yeah, that's cool. I kind of needed to let go this weekend anyhow," he shrugged, dragging his hand through his black hair to tousle it up a bit more - being very careful with his fringe.

The bell rang signalling it was time for lunch, and both friends let out a sigh of relief, shrugging their heavy bags onto their shoulders. Opening his locker, he threw his bag inside and grabbed his lunch money, slamming the locker door closed.

Turning around on a heel, he was greeted by Bridget who began eagerly snogging him in front of everyone. Bridget was a little annoying and quite clingy at times considering she wasn't his number one bitch, but Bridget could easily satisfy his needs. Most of the Foxes could, though, but Bridget always somehow seemed available.

Nibbling at her lip a little as he pulled back, she stared at him and batted her eyelashes, twirling her long, blonde hair between two fingers.

"Hey Phil," she cooed sweetly.

"Hello Bridget," he replied halfheartedly, making his way to the cafeteria to get some chips and a juice box.

"So I heard you were going to Evan's party tonight. Care to maybe spend the night together?"

"Only if Roxy decides she doesn't want to come." Roxy was his main bitch, and there were definitely reasons for that. Bridget only looked slightly put off by Phil's remark, but he knew she was used to it. Even so - every time -somehow, Bridget always came back.

"Well remember I will still be there if you need me," she huffed, winking at him once before prancing away to a table of Foxes. Scanning closely, a corner of Phil's head told him that he had fucked at least half of the Foxes at that table. Grinning, he made his way to a large table filled with his Lions.

"Ayyyyy, Phil!" Brad jumped up, slapping Phil on the back.

"Hey Brad-o," he grinned, setting his food down and flopping down himself.

"So I found this kid in Year 10 who has the material to be a Lion. Troye, meet Phil, the leader of us Lions," Brad continued, introducing Phil to a large-eyed boy.

"I don't know - he's too scrawny and shy and miserable," Phil thought aloud. Hurting people's feeling came naturally to him, and their reactions didn't really have an affect on him.

To everyone's surprise, Troye muttered: "I could say the same about you." Surprised, Phil's mouth fell agape a little until he broke into a wide smile.

"I like you. Welcome to the pride, cub," he winked. Troye sighed, looking almost relieved to be accepted into a group consisted of mostly people who were older than him.

"Oh Christ, why do the Bears have to be such nuisances? Just because they have a football game this weekend doesn't mean they have to steal all the Foxes," another Lion named Winston groaned, gazing at the table of the Bears - the other popular group in their school. Their leader - Daniel Howell - was currently being flocked by a bunch of Foxes.

"I really want to get Brittany in bed sometime," Phil commented, staring at the girl with too much makeup and a fake personality who was currently sitting on Dan's lap and playing with his hair. He looked a little annoyed at that fact, softly swatting her arm away as she giggled.

Brittany was definitely not Phil's type; the only reason why he wanted Brittany was so that he could show the whole school that the Lions dominated over the Bears. She was Dan's main bitch.

"Personally, I kind of want Jasmine," Winston mumbled, staring off into the distance. Jasmine was Dan's other bitch, but the slutty, attention-seeking one. Phil laughed cruelly.

"You can keep the whore to yourself." Winston glared jokingly at Phil and began chuckling with him.

For a millisecond, Dan and Phil caught each other's eyes, staring at the other. Phil could feel the hatred and annoyance bubble in the pit of his stomach, but he also felt... something else. It was small and fleeting, but it was something foreign to him. If he stared hard enough, he could almost see confusion in the other boy's eyes.

But the moment was gone as soon as it had begun. Shaking off the uncertainty from his shoulders, he turned away, glaring once at Dan.

"So, Troye... you should come with us to the party tonight..."

>•<

Lying on his bed waiting for Chris to arrive with Troye and Brad, he was effectively ignoring many of Bridget's texts asking him whether or not Roxy had agreed to come. Tired of her shit, he finally sighed before turning off his phone completely, skipping down the stairs to the front door. There were a few car beeps, telling Phil that his friends had arrived at last.

"Bye Philly! I hope you have a great time!" his mother beamed from the dinner table. She didn't know what Phil got up to, and Phil thought it was better for it to stay like that. No matter - she was never home anyhow.

Without replying, he opened the front door and locked it behind him. Tugging at his shirt collar, he opened a back car door and squeezed beside Troye. Smiling and nodding to acknowledge them, he automatically strapped on his seatbelt as Chris drove down the dark street.

Brad and Chris had a quite animated conversation, but Phil just sat in the backseat beside Troye in an awkward silence, stubbornly staring out the window beside him.

They finally arrived, Chris parking a bit far back behind a green Honda Civic a little down the street. All of them getting out, they walked to the house that had come to life with music filtering through window and light making it the brightest house on the block. Passing through a lawn, they pushed the front door open and stepped inside.

They all split up, Phil moving towards the kitchen to find some sort of alcohol. Someone had set up some alcohol on a breakfast bar, and Phil gladly took a beer and opened it.

At the first sip he could already feel the relief fill his body as he felt the vague burn of alcohol at the back of his throat. He could finally just relax and have a good time as he drank half the bottle. Carelessly shuffling around a few people who were eagerly making out by the stairs, he made his way to the living room.

Before he reached it, on the other hand, he saw Troye chatting with a boy with a blonde quiff and hipster glasses. Frowning, he called him over.

"Hey - Troye. That boy is a Bear. Lion's don't mess with Bears... just a reminder for the future," he took a swig of his beer. Troye nodded in understandment and slight disappointment. Smiling once so the other boy understood, Troye disappeared once again into the crowd.

Eased bodies were dancing together to a tune that Phil thought he had heard on the radio before. The room was crowded and the lights were dimmed, but there were some colourful lights flashing above the crowd. It seemed like someone had went through the trouble to go out and buy those, but in his opinion it gave the party a nice little touch.

"Hey Phil." Some ginger hair fell on Phil's shoulder as someone with warm breath and a syrupy voice whispered in his ear from behind.

"Hey Roxy," he smiled, turning around to kiss her hello. She lightly touched his waist as she swayed a little to the music.

Breaking apart, she announced: "I'm going to grab a drink," she gestured to the beer in Phil's hand, "I'll be right back." Phil nodded, looking back at the crowd.

To his surprise,  _Uma Thurman_ by Fall Out Boy started playing loudly over the speakers. Phil immediately started swaying to the beat and put his beer bottle down - probably not to see it again. He didn't expect a song like this to come on during a party... but apparently it had happened. Looking towards the speakers, he saw Steven grinning devilishly, giving it away that he was the one who recommended the song.

Steven was cool, even though he was an Unpopular. The only reason why he hadn't become a Lion or Bear - he claimed - was because he just didn't feel like it and preferred the freedom. Even so, he knew that both him and Dan have tried to get Steven to join either numerous times.

No - Phil could not resist with this song with the alcohol. By the next second, he started to full on dance and mumble the words (of what he knew), moving to the centre of the crowd. People began to cheer him on as the head of the Lions. He couldn't blame them, because he knew he was a pretty good dancer, moving in whatever way that felt right for the moment.

It took him the whole first verse for him to notice that he was not the only person being cheered on. On the other side of the room, he could see Dan dancing up a storm - and he had to admit he was pretty good too. The crowd had shifted so that the two boys were the centre of attention in one ring. Jealous that he was even here, Phil tried pulling off his best and hottest moves to attract all the attention to himself.

Dan didn't seem in the least fazed, swaying his hips from side to side and keeping his arms up. Phil caught himself once copying one of his moves, and angrily thought of a better move. He could barely even notice the other people around him, some dancing a little and others simply bobbing their heads - all of them watching adoringly or lustfully at either him or Dan. All of his concentration went to Dan.

What seemed strange was that it was almost as though Dan knew this song through-and-through, like he listened to it a lot and sang along with it. Like it was one of his favourite songs. Phil shook off the feeling of the possibility that Dan might have liked the same bands that he did - cause that didn't matter, did it?

Somehow, Phil pulled off a really great dance move, earning a worthy applause from the Lions in the crowd. Since he probably took it as a challenge, Dan pulled off an almost better move, earning an even louder applause from his Bears. Fuming, Phil tried to concentrate on the song again and hoped that whatever he was doing was better than Dan.

It was hard to pull his concentration onto anything else, because people began to close up the extra space, forcing the two boys nearer to each other. Phil could feel the tension and hatred between them, and was pretty sure the other boy could probably feel it as well. It was wavering - however - as Phil's eyes began to wander wherever they pleased.

Even though he denied it, he couldn't help but notice the way that Dan's hips moved from side to side in a very appealing manner, thinking that this was how he probably attracted all the Foxes. Once he realized he was probably staring for too long, he tried to pull off what he thought was one of his sexiest moves, attracting mutters of approval from the crowd. Looking at Dan, Phil could have sworn that his eyes flickered back up from checking him out a little. Smirking, Phil put all of his efforts in the dancing and sang the words confidently to himself.

The song ended, Phil dropping his hands back to his sides and his feet moving back towards the kitchen to retrieve a shot of whatever he could get ahold of. Gulping it down and feeling the warmth spread through his chest, he sighed and fixed his fringe automatically. It was getting a bit hot in Evan's house, so Phil unbuttoned one of the top buttons of his shirt.

"Hey sexy," Roxy found him again, "You were quite the dancer there."

"Yes, I know," he grinned.

"How about I make you move a little more - underneath me?" she offered, a flame jumping up behind her eyes.

"That sounds great." She tugged at his hand and began to drag him up the stairs to go find an unused bedroom.

Just before he disappeared upstairs, Phil had to admit he had to drag his eyes away from a certain someone's swaying, quite well-defined ass still on the dance floor.


	2. Dan

Dan finished straightening his chestnut hair, fixing it up with one hand so that it was absolutely perfect. Unplugging his phone and shoving it in his back jeans pocket, he skipped up the stairs as he struggled pulling on a black and white jock sweater. The smell of bacon and eggs overwhelmed him.

"Hey mum," he greeted the lively woman by the stove, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek.

"Morning Daniel," she chirped, laughing at his reaction to his full name and ruffling up his hair with the hand that didn't have a spatula in it. Dan groaned, hurriedly trying to make his hair perfect again.

"Breakfast smells good," he mumbled, grabbing a plate and holding it out for his mother to serve him. She balanced some bacon on the spatula and dropped it on his plate, concentrating so that she didn't drop any grease on the floor. He made his way to the kitchen table and started digging in.

Finishing up, he left his empty plate in the sink and tried to sneak a bit of Nutella from the jar.

"Ah ah ah ah ah. Daniel James Howell...  _how_  many time do I have to tell you  _not_  to eat the Nutella out of the jar!" his mother scolded him, shaking a finger as he guiltily pushed it away on the counter and attempted to sneak away to grab his backpack.

"Sorry, mum."

Peeking around the doorframe to say one last goodbye, he caught his mother eating some of the Nutella with a spoon.

"Caught you," he smirked. She squealed, pretending she hadn't done anything.

"Bye," he continued.

"Bye, Dan. I'll miss you."

"Sure you will," he rolled his eyes, closing the front door behind him.

 _Monday... crap_  Dan thought as he plugged in one earphone, which was currently playing Panic! At The Disco's  _Hallelujah_. He fixed his fringe once more for the billionth time as he turned around the block towards his school.

Sifting through his head, he remembered Phil. No, definitely not in that way - it was just... he was acting strange lately.

Last Friday, he went to Evan's party and he had a relatively good time. He was too drunk to remember much, but the one thing he remembered was when he and Phil had some sort of dance off. In his opinion, he thought that he had done the best, but that other kid seemed like pretty good competition at the time.

It was strange - and maybe they were both a little too drunk - but he could've sworn that they were checking each other out. Dan convinced himself that it was probably because he was curious how Phil had managed to get a lot of the Foxes.

Over the weekend, he had won his football game scoring a few worthy extra points for his team, also scoring himself a few more fans and even a one-night stand on Saturday. What was strange was that he didn't remember waking up beside a hungover whore and leaving her after the party.

Which once again forced him to assume that he had probably passed out. That was a little weird as well considering Dan always watched what he was drinking so that he could avoid extremely awkward situations.

Pausing the Muse that had begun to play, he stuffed his earphones in his back pocket and pretended to text to ignore all of the Unpopulars hanging around the school grounds and hallways. (Realistically, he was only ignoring the millions of texts he was getting from the people who had somehow gotten his phone number and he had not blocked yet. Instead, as soon as he got the school's wifi, he secretly scrolled through his Tumblr. No one needed to know he had a Tumblr. Or a Twitter for that fact, where he could be a completely different person.)

Once he reached his locker and opened it, he was greeted by his group, who all eagerly chatted at the same time to their leader. Dan was too tired that Monday morning to pay any attention at all to anyone, and his mind was too sluggish to process anything that was happening around him.

Tuning back in, he heard one of his best mates PJ rattle on: "- don't understand why they are being such idiots and being so annoying they shouldn't even be in the sloth..." **[A/N: Fun fact: apparently a group of bears is a sloth... yay google]**

"Hmm? Who, Dennis and Max?" he mumbled, vaguely aware of what his friend was talking about.

"Yeah... I mean, I seriously just don't understand how you let those two become cubs..."

"Yes, I talked to them already. They said they had a plan or something against a few Lions... they told me to 'hang in there'" he scoffed. Even so, he still believed in them and was a little curious - to be honest - on what they had up their sleeves.

"Sure," PJ shrugged, "Whatever you say..." The bell rang, everyone scampering away to their classes, leaving Dan alone for once to pack for History. History was the  _perfect_  subject to start off a Monday morning.

Walking in and sitting down, Dean - another Bear - hung around, leaning against his desk and chatting with him. He could see Phil across the room, but he gave him a quick glare and ignored him.

Making a large entrance into the classroom - as he usually did - their professor Mr. Smith burst into the room and set his lesson plans for the day onto his desk.

"New seating plans!" he smiled brightly, waving a singular sheet of paper around between two fingers. Some students began to whisper in excitement while the rest just groaned.

Starting off in the far, isolated corner, he pointed to each individual desk: "Steven, Chloe, Dan and Phil." Dan sat there in shock. There was no way he was sitting even close to Phil.

Reluctantly grabbing his bag and moving to the opposite table from where Phil was sitting, Mr. Smith shook his head: "No, Dan. I said this desk - not that desk." He was pointing to the desk right beside Phil.

Scowling, he purposefully banged into the desk and scraped the chair across the floor before he sat down. Mr. Smith luckily ignored his attitude. At least Steven was sitting directly in front of him.

Steven was smiling, running a hand through his short, sandy-brown hair. He had bright hazel eyes and his nose was abnormally off to the side as though he had broken it. Steven also had a weird habit of tapping that weird nose of his when he was thinking.

Beside him, Chloe sat quietly and looked extremely terrified at the group she had been put with. Nervously, she began braiding her bright ginger hair that contrasted quite a bit from her pale, freckly skin. She was almost as pale as Voldemort or Phil for goodness' sake.

Grumbling and crossing his arms, Dan pointedly made it aware that he was ignoring Phil, and he just knew that Phil was doing the same. He glanced at Steven, who looked like he might explode into laughter, which made Dan even more frustrated. Chloe was of course ignoring them - reading some paperback novel. It seemed like forever waiting for Mr. Smith to finish with the seating plan.

At last he stepped back up in front of the white board as students became acquainted with their new seating groups. All of them seemed at least 10 times more satisfied than Dan was.

"So... hush hush everyone, now... part of the reason why you all have a new seating plan is because I have conveniently paired you up with your partners for a large project," he continued, smiling. Knowing his luck, Dan was almost certain that he was paired up with Phil and he wanted to smack off that nasty smirk off of Steven's face.

"And, yes... if you're wondering... this will also be your seating plan for Physics every other day," he added. Everyone in the class right now had the same Physics class as he did, and Dan was already not happy seeing Phil everyday - much less sitting beside him for a whole block per day.

"Looks like just your luck, boys," Steven whispered to Dan and Phil, both growling dangerously back at him. He only laughed. Steven was  _not_  cool at the moment.

"Since we have finished most of the curriculum for this year - I know - and we may have quite a bit of time to use up that I am not using for movies, I was thinking we could do a project on any of your favourite historic events," their professor announced, "Your partner is currently sitting beside you, and you both have to make a presentation on your favourite historic event. Please try to be original and not copy anyone else."

"Howell..." Dan turned around, his eyes finding the snide voice.

"Lester," he snarled back, meeting his eyes. They were icy and cold, the perfect blue giving him weird chills up and down his back.

"Why are you staring at me?" Phil growled after a minute, crossing his arms.

"I'm not - you're staring at me," Dan snapped, continuing to stare at the other boy. Phil scoffed, breaking the connection by looking at a floor tile. Dan shook himself, taking and reading the assignment paper that Mr. Smith had previously handed out.

"We need to choose a historic event," Dan read out, flicking the paper where it said that.

"You can choose, I don't really give a fuck."

"Well, fine then. World War Two?"

"Are you kidding? Do you know how many people are going to choose that?"

"I thought you said you didn't give a fuck on what we did."

"Just choose something else."

"Fine. The 1969... thing... First astronaut on the moon?"

"No."

"The Queen's life?"

"Nope."

"Um... The World Fair in Paris?"

"Sounds boring."

"Ok, I'm running out of ideas."

"I don't care, just think of something."

"Fine... let's see... how about... what's that American terrorism event? 9... 9/11?"

"No."

"The Emu War?"

"N- what?"

"The Emu War."

"Where did you find that?"

"On Tum- the internet."

"You surf the internet for weird historic events?"

"No, I just happened to find it," Dan retorted. That is exactly what happens on Tumblr.

"Well... fine. So how are we supposed to do a whole project based on a few thousand emus defeating the Australian government?"

"Wait... you know about it too?"

"Noooo..." Dan kept his stare trained on the other boy, "Fine - I may know about it or heard about it..." That was strange, because the actual event was so obscure and weird that the only place another person could've found it would be on Tumblr.

"So how are we going to present it?"

"I don't know, PowerPoint?"

"Are you serious? So much for being original..." Dan retorted.

"We could always add a video and some Photoshop," Phil suggested, recrossing his arms.

"Well how are we supposed to do that considering the due date? And the fact that we won't have any computer time?"

"I have Photoshop at home..." Great. Now this was definitely implying that they had to see each other after school. This was not going in a good direction.

Dan shook his head as they both had a stare down - silent for quite a few seconds.

"After school then?" Phil smirked, suspiciously maliciously. Dan made a non-committal noise, not necessarily wanting to say anything.

Phil gestured for Dan to give him his hand, and when he didn't do it he forcefully grabbed Dan's hand and jerked him forward. Clicking a pen, he harshly wrote out his address on the palm of his hand.

As soon as he was released from the other boy's grip, he pulled his arm back and looked at the address. It was a little smudged and he couldn't tell if one of the numbers was a 2 or a 7. He just hoped that it was a 7.

The rest of the class went by really slowly, most of which Dan pretended to research the Emu War when he was really just scrolling through Tumblr. He knew Phil wasn't doing anything either - it looked like he was probably texting friends from other classes.

Grateful, Dan grabbed his bag and left as soon as he could, straight to his Maths class. Sitting down in relief, he set his head in his hands, sighing. He didn't know what his life was going to do with him.

"Is everything all right Dan?" Dan looked up to see Becky sitting in front of him, only a trace of concern on her face. She was one of the only Unpopulars other than Steven that he would talk to. Sometimes he really didn't know why.

"Everything's fucking grand, how about you?" he snapped, angrily running his hand through his fringe.

"I think I'm having quite a better life right now considering I'm not a dick," she replied cooly, still watching him. Dan just wasn't in the mood for anyone to talk to him right now. And now Jessica - another Unpopular - had just walked up behind Becky, sitting beside her.

Jessica quickly said hello, and gave Becky a quick kiss on the lips in greeting.

"Would you mind bringing your lesbian atmosphere somewhere else, as I find it rather disturbing," Dan interjected curtly, glaring at the couple and impatiently tapping his desk.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does our homosexuality bother you? Shame, I guess you're going to have to deal with it," Jessica mocked, crossing her arms, "Oh, and how's Phillip?"

"Oooh, what happened?" Becky asked eagerly, glancing between her girlfriend and Dan. Dan simply glared at Jessica, wanting her to melt under his stare. Jessica was in his History and Physics class, and of course she had kept an eye on them.

"Lester is a fag, as always."

"Considering you're one too, I think you'd go well together."

"Fuck you," Dan snapped, not having anything better to say.

"Sorry. That's what I have Becky for," she smiled a little too sweetly for Dan's liking, Becky pulling an arm around Jessica.

"Now I remember why I don't talk to Unpopulars," Dan grumbled, whipping out his phone to check the millions of text Brittany had sent him.

"Wait, so what actually happened?" Becky nudged her girlfriend. Dan tried to ignore them with all of his will, but he knew that wouldn't work.

"We got new seating plans in Mr. Smith's classes, and guess who Mr. Daniel Howell gets to sit by every day?" Jessica continued.

"Omg, that actually happened?" Becky squealed.

"Yup - plus they have to work on at least one huge project together."

"This is so exciting! What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know... anything could happen..." Jessica finished mysteriously, and Dan couldn't handle it.

"I swear to fucking god nothing is going to happen between me and Lester. The only thing that will probably happen is if I rip that son of a bitch's head off in the next week," Dan burst out, almost shaking with rage.

"That's what you think..." Becky added.

"And why are you being so persistent on the fact that nothing's going to happen?" Jessica piped up. Dan just wished that the bell would ring and the whole conversation would end, but class had barely started. Groaning, he took out his Maths book and began to doodle, ignoring their mocks the whole rest of the class.

>•<

_Hey mum_

_I just need to go over 2 someones house 2 work on a school project_

_Ill probs b home by dinner_

Pressing send on the last text, Dan unwillingly set off to find Phil's address. He had checked Google Maps before he lost connection from wifi, so he had a relatively good idea to where he was heading.

To be honest, the whole time, Dan was pretty nervous. He remembered the look Phil had on his face and he did not want to see what he had in mind. Taking his mind off everything, he put in his earbuds and played music.

The music must have distracted him a little too much, because he was already on the street written on his hand. Checking his hand once more to compare it with a street sign, he shrugged and tried to find the right house number.

Could it be 1122...? No, it was probably 1127... which was the house right across from him.

Checking both sides of the street before j-walking, he ran all the way to the other pavement. Catching his breath, he hesitated before walking up to 1127's door.

Buzzing the doorbell, he heard a short jingle play and someone inside run up to open the door. Now Dan was really nervous - what was he supposed to do in Phil's house with no one else he knew?

The white door finally opened, revealing a short, 12-year old girl standing there nervously. Dan was a little confused, but nevertheless gave her a quirky little smile.

"Hi," he greeted her, and she looked positively terrified.

"Um... hey? What do you want?" she squeaked, still semi-hiding behind the front door.

"Is Phil here? I'm supposed to work on a school project with him..."

"Oh," she relaxed a little, "You've got the wrong house. He's at 1122... just down the street a little. Don't worry about it so much - lots of people mistake our house for his... oh... he wrote it on your hand? I can see now - he really does have terrible writing. That does look like a 7..." she ranted on, Dan awkwardly standing on the  _Welcome_  mat fiddling with his earphones.

"Thanks," he replied bluntly, turning around so thar he could actually get to the right house.

"Yeah... no problem...?" the girl called out, only shutting the door when Dan was across the street. God, preteen girls were so weird. And Phil was such an asshole for Christ's sake.

Finally approaching the correct pale-white house with a neat garden in the front, Dan took a deep breath, stepped up and rung the doorbell.


	3. Phil

The doorbell rang.

Phil's head shot up.  _Oh, right - that was probably Daniel._

Sitting up, he ran over to the iPhone dock to pause the loud Muse that was playing and regretfully skipped down the stairs towards the door.

To be honest, he was starting to get a bit worried about Howell coming to his house. At first it had seemed like a good idea - but now he wasn't so sure. He thought that since it was his residence he would be more comfortable in weeding humiliating secrets out of him but also considering it was his household that Howell kid could probably find something that would completely ruin his ego. He would probably have to keep an eye on him.

Taking a deep breath, he fiddled with the front door's lock for a while until it finally slid open. Jerking the door open, he peeked around it to see a very bored looking Howell.

"Jesus, you take forever to come," he exclaimed sarcastically, wrapping his earbuds carefully around his phone and tucking them in his back jeans pocket.

"Yes, well... I try hard," Phil smirked cheekily.

"I bet you do," Howell muttered under his breath.

"So... project," Dan said bluntly, dropping his school bag by the front door.

"Right... follow me," Phil nodded, signaling for the other boy to follow him up the stairs.

"My parents aren't home - they don't get off work until just before dinner," Phil explained, smirking because he could've sworn that he heard Dan groan in dissapointment. Skipping up the stairs, he led the other boy into his room.

"This is my room: don't touch anything and don't mess anything up."

"What's the wifi password?"

"Wha- Why do you need that?"

"Why do you think, stupid," Dan glared at him.

"Uh... I forgot the password," Phil lied through his teeth. Of course he knew the wifi password; he wasn't an idiot.

"Pff... whatever. So how are we going to work on this?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Your mum."

"Thanks. I think she would be great to represent the Emu War. So should we just be doing a Powerpoint or something?"

"Fine - let's be boring as shit."

"I'm putting Photoshops in it and I actually know how to make then look nice and professional... but I don't know about you..." They sat there glaring at each other for a while, Phil examining those strangely bright brown eyes of Howell's. He hadn't really noticed how curious and pretty they were before...

"Well we better bloody start working on something," he snapped, crossing his arms.

"Right then. I can start working on the Powerpoint and Photoshops then."

"Yeah? And leave all the boring research to me?"

"Yeah. My laptop," Phil challenged, staying strong even though fire was shooting out of the other kid's eyes.

"Fine then. And screw you very much," Dan cursed, taking a spare notebook that he had brought with him out and stealing a pen off of Phil's desk.

"Next time I would appreciate if you tell me what you are going to take before you steal it," Phil smiled pointedly, gesturing at the pen. Dan groweled, opening his phone and typing something in it.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to put on some music that I like," Phil announced, walking over to his iPhone dock around Howell who was currently sitting on the floor. Scrolling through his song playlist, he chose  _Uprising_  by Muse and adjusted the volume. Grabbing his laptop, he settled back over onto his checkered blue and green bed.

As his laptop was booting up, he glanced over the screen to see Howell... was it... smiling?!?... and softly mouthing to the words... For some reason, Phil felt an appreciation that at least this boy had good music taste, but he also felt a little over-protective. He was almost jealous, as though only he was allowed to like Muse and no one else. Muse was practically unheard of at school.

At that moment, it suddenly had occurred to him that by the way Daniel kept on glancing at his phone he probably had managed to hack into the wifi. That fucking bastard.

"Hey, how do you have wifi?" Phil asked curtly.

"Oh, I'm sorry... is it illegal to obtain wifi here? Last time I checked it wasn't... and anyhow the network was called Enterprise so I just tried using the Enterprise's serial number from Star Trek - NCC-1701-D - and I managed to get in first try." Phil wanted to object, saying something about how Dan is some sort of weird nerd to know something like that, but then again, it was the password to his wifi and that was how he had remembered it.

Huffing, Phil turned back to his laptop, scrolling through it to find a good Powerpoint template.

After perfecting the title page with a few well-done edits of emus, he couldn't help but to peek at the boy across from him concentrating as he scratched out words onto the notepad.

 _Scritch scritch scratch scritch_. Dan glanced at his phone, scrolled down and then scratched down even more words.

His level of concentration was strangely amusing; the way he quirked his head when he was at loss of what to write and how he had to write (since he was - Phil noted - left-handed) without smudging the ink. Phil could have literally observed him for hours and it would never get boring.

His phone changed the song to AWOLINATION's  _Sail_ , which reminded Phil that he should probably stop trying to sneakily stare at the boy on the other side of his bedroom. Sighing and getting up, he paused the song as Dan looked up in confusion.

"Um... would you like any tea?" Phil offered. To be honest, he was getting a little hungry.

"Uh, sure - yeah. That'd be great, thanks," Dan muttered, finishing up his last few notes before getting up. It was at that moment when Phil really got to appreciate how tall Howell really was.

He hadn't realized until now, but that boy was a fucking giant. On tip-toes... no, Phil would have to jump a little to be the same height as Dan. He didn't even know it was possible for someone to be this tall, even as Phil was pretty tall himself.

"So... tea?" Dan asked.

"Right - tea," Phil nodded, turning around and running down the stairs to the kitchen. He could hear the other boy thump down the stairs behind him.

Grabbing the kettle, Phil filled it with water and set it to boil.

"Howell?"

"Yes Lester?"

"Could you grab two mugs and the biscuits from that cupboard over there?"

"I thought I was the guest."

"Yeah, well you're lucky you're not my slave." Dan huffed, and Phil could hear him move over to the cupboard Phil had told him.

Just as Phil was grabbing the tea, he turned around to see Dan facing the other way, selecting two mugs. His pants were already low riding, so Phil could see a surprisingly familiar band of gray boxers between his jeans and his shirt.

What really intrigued Phil was when Dan reached up a little higher for the tin of biscuits; his t-shirt rode up a little, revealing the most perfect strip of tanned skin that Phil had ever seen. He even almost dropped the tea that was still in his hand.

Even so, the moment was gone as soon as it had arrived, and Dan relaxed back down with the mugs and the biscuits (yet unfortunately without that pleasant little strip of tanned skin). Phil walked towards him, taking the mugs out of his hand and dropping tea bags into each of them.

His kettle began to angrily beep at him, so Phil had to run over to it, retrieve it and pour out some boiling water into each mug. Letting them steep for a while, he grabbed a biscuit out of the tin (Dan imitating him) and munched on it until it was finished.

"How do you want your tea?" Phil asked, already grabbing the milk out of the fridge.

"Just milk is fine," Dan shrugged, watching Phil throw away two boiling teabags and pour milk into each cup. Handing a cup of steaming tea to Dan, Phil grabbed one last biscuit before heading back upstairs to his room again to turn back on the music.

Both boys sat down quietly, listening to Phil's music play as they drank their tea, taking a break from their homework.

Finishing, Phil set down his mug and picked up his laptop once again. Opening up Photoshop, he started to edit some pictures that he would probably need for the project.

He was vaguely aware when Dan finished; hearing his mug be placed on his desk and the boy standing up with his notebook, shuffling towards him. Phil instantly froze when he felt the bed crease in as Howell sat down on it, sliding down towards Phil so he could look at his screen closer.

"Done editing a General's face onto an emu?" Howell questioned sarcastically, leaning back and taking out his phone, "I'll just leave you to it then." Phil glared at him, but the boy was no longer paying attention to him.

Leaning back, Phil opened up a new tab on Google Chrome and instinctively went onto Tumblr. He began absently scrolling through his feed, giving notes to everything he liked and reblogging the occasional post.

It was one particular post that somehow got him, and he started giggling uncontrollably, tongue even sticking out a little. He even had to clutch at his stomach a little to keep it from aching. And then he remembered that Howell was still here.

Glancing at the other boy in shame, he could see a bemused look swept across his face, staring at Phil. Phil didn't like it one bit.

"What's so funny?" he asked curiously, leaning forward to peek at Phil's screen.

"Nothing," Phil said sharply, quickly closing the tab with his Tumblr on it, "I just remembered something... that's all."

"Ah, yes. The many amusements of Phillip Lester's life. Oh wait... isn't your whole life a joke?"  _Low blow, Howell_. Phil squinted his eyes at him, all traces of humor from that Tumblr post gone. Turning away, he touched up his edit, turned it into a Jpeg, and inserted it into the Powerpoint.

"So, Howell," he began icily once again, "We need your  _information_  now."

"Oh, have I actually come of use then?" Dan rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, he scooted right up beside him.

Phil was most certainly aware that he was touching him. Their hips were touching, their legs were touching, their arms were brushing up against each other... basically they had created a dip in the mattress and were both compressed together at the bottom. Even so, Phil knew how to concentrate and act normal in these situations.

"So as you were playing around with Adobe, I actually set out a format for the Powerpoint..." Howell began, his left arm definitely brushing up against Phil's arm as he used his left hand to use the mouse. All while explaining the information and format to Phil, he gradually put the information into the Powerpoint, typing out one letter at a time with his left index finger. Phil watched the boy the whole time, unnaturally absorbed into what he was ranting on about.

"Aaaaaaand... all we need to do now is touch it up," he finished, quickly running a slideshow to see how it looked.

"Not bad, Howell," Phil nodded in approval.

"I actually have to say, you did quite a good job on those Photoshops, if I do say so myself..." Dan admitted, smiling softly. Phil wanted to ask what was going on with the two of them going soft with each other, but as they stared at each other pleasantly he just couldn't bring himself up to say it.

As he was staring at this boy - this boy he had hated for what seemed like forever - he felt weird. He felt like he wanted to do things to him that Howell definitely (and possibly he himself) would regret later, but the scenarios kept on flowing through his head. Phil knew he had glanced down a few times, but he even caught Dan doing it once.

Before he could think, his body acted for him; gradually but not too slowly leaning in. Just before he reached his destination, he smiled a little cheekily and gently placed his lips on Dan's.

Softly, he gave a small kiss to Dan's unresponsive lips. It wasn't like it was the first time he had done something like this that wasn't hungry or greedy, but it certainly had been a very long time.

But this was most definitely the first boy.  _And, hey, trying new things is good luck_ , Phil thought to himself.

Very slowly, Phil pulled away. He could see Dan's face was frozen in shock yet still had a tinge of a blush on it. Dan had also been quite unresponsive, Phil remembered. Weirdly enough, Phil could almost feel his cheeks heating up.

"Um... I need to go use the bathroom," Dan excused himself, abruptly standing up and leaving Phil's room.

As soon as he was gone, Phil flopped down completely on his bed, hiding his face in his hands.  _What the fuck have I just done?_ Somehow, he knew he had probably humiliated himself more than Howell.

It was only when he heard the front door close did Phil realize the trap he had fallen into.

Running downstairs, he saw that's Howell's bag was gone, and the front door wasn't locked properly. Opening the door and checking outside, Howell had disappeared and must have already left around the corner.

Shaking his head, he headed back up into his room. There was this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had never felt before, and it made him feel nauseous. He slammed his bedroom door behind him and flopped once again on his bed.

Noticing that Dan's notebook was still here, Phil decided to flip through it. Most of it was just homework and math problems and doodles and the smell of book and Dan... but there was one phrase written beside some scrawled algebra questions that made Phil rethink all of his actions that day:

_Phillip Lester is a fag._


	4. Dan

Sitting on the back of a school bus, Dan ignored everyone as he played Crossy Road. Yes, it was an old game, but it passed the time and to be honest he really loved just using the Llama or the Emo Goose. Or Doge.

Yes, his best mates Chris and Tyler were sitting in front of him and Brittany was sitting beside him, but his friends were busy teasing some Unpopulars in front of them and Brittany was having an animated conversation with Jasmine.  _How ironic_ , Dan thought,  _they're probably fighting on whose better in bed and who I like better_... He smirked and snickered a little.

Their grade was currently going on a field trip to a swimming pool. There were some people who thought it was pretty lame, but at the moment that group mostly consisted of the Unpopulars. Plus, this specific pool had just about everything a good swimming pool needed: A regular swimming pool, a large jacuzzi, a dive tank with a diving board, a slide and even a rope, a sauna and a steam room, a waterslide and even a lazy river to top it all off.

Since he was at the back of the bus, he could see just about everyone. Frowning, he could see Lester up ahead glancing back at him quickly.

Right... that incident.

While he was working on the project, he knew that there were many tense situations, and Dan knew he had on occasion watched Phil as he worked. To be honest, the fact that Lester had the exact same music taste as he did really did turn a good side on him.

And then the thing happened. Just as they were having a moment or something, Lester decided to kiss him.

Phillip fucking Lester actually had the decency to kiss him. On the lips. Proving the point that he really is a faggot.

But Dan really didn't know what to think of the whole situation.

He was still shell-shocked over the whole situation, and he didn't react, but there was some part of him that almost wanted to kiss him back.

Maybe he was just getting ahead of himself.

Since his mind had been all jumbled up and confuesd, he had decided to leave. It was the easiest solution. Plus he was not ready to start something like this with Lester.

The bus stopped, and everyone stood up. Sighing, he turned his phone off and followed everyone else off the bus.

Everyone walked inside together, putting on the blue paper wristbands the teacher handed them at the enterance. Slipping his phone in his skinny jean's pocket, he wrapped the bracelet onto his wrist beside his grass bracelet, making sure it wasn't too tight.

All the boys filed into the Mens' changing room, taking off their shoes at the entrance and changing into their swimming trunks. Dan claimed a changing stall immediately, because he didn't want any gay perverts looking at his junk.

Changed, he left with dark grey trunks, all of his clothes stuffed into the small bag he had brought. He stuffed that bag into an unused locker, hoping no one would steal it considering his phone was in the middle of all his clothes.

"Ready?" he asked his Bears as they caught up with him. They all agreed and laughed, following their leader into the actual pool itself.

Since the main pool started off with the lowest depth, all of the boys could start off there and run into the actual pool, careful not to slip on the tiles. They all ran, falling into the water once they couldn't run through the water any longer. Dan was laughing - he had managed to get farther than anyone else.

Pushing off the side, Dan breaststroked all the way to the end of the pool underwater. Standing up, he was the only person who could stand up with his head completely above water without having to go on his tip-toes because of his height. Everyone was currently teasing Tyler because he either had to tread water or hold on to the edge of the pool to keep afloat. He was also squinting strangely because he wasn't wearing his glasses.

It was when his hair began sticking onto his face because of moisture did Dan remember.  _Right_  - the hobbit hair. He groaned, already trying to fix it even though he knew it was a lost cause.

At the other end of the pool, he could already see the Lions playing beach volleyball with some of the Foxes.  _Pff, this isn't even a beach_ , Dan scoffed in his head. He could also see Phil giving Bridget a piggy-back ride, suddenly diving into the water and swimming away as Bridget squealed, unsuccessfully trying to cling on.

At last, some more Foxes that weren't in the pool yet came over dragging those large foam floaty boards shaped like turtles and ducks and so on. They threw them at all the boys, jumping in after them.

It suddenly became a full on war-zone. Since there were limited floaty devices, there were multiple boys fighting over each one. Every once in a while, a boy would successfully sit on the top of one and grin like he was better than everyone else, but then the rest of the Bears fighting for it would overturn the pad and send the boy underwater.

"Hey," Jasmine whispered. She had somehow ended up right beside Dan with her purple spotted bikini, and she was currently attaching herself to him so that she was basically straddling his side. With one arm, he hugged her waist until one of the floaty things with Chris on top crashed into his back, making Jasmine fall off. A part of Dan was greatful, to be honest.

Turning to Chris, he dived on top of the board, pushing his friend off into the water and scrambling to get on the blue foam turtle. Eventually, his Bears pulled him off so that he fell butt-first into the water, struggling to stay up.

"Wanna check out the lazy river?" Dean asked, nudging Dan, Tyler and Chris at the same time, all nodding. They pushed themselves out of the water from the deep end, grabbing some spare inner tubes from a supply cupboard and running to the beginning of the lazy river.

"Crap, I think I'm stuck," Tyler moaned, almost falling inside of his inner tube. They all just smirked, pushing Tyler into the lazy river as he struggled to release himself a little.

"Thank god I have a flat butt," Dan joked, his legs dangling into the water. He could just barely fit into his inner tube. With his legs, he pushed himself down the river, his fingers trailing down through the cool water.

Down a stretch just after the bend, there were bubbles in the water, helping them float past through the water. At the end, there was a mini ramp that lead back down to main pool, and each boy was swept down by the water, falling back into the main pool.

Struggling to get out, Dan fell underwater with his inner tube floating above him. Pushing it away, he let it float away as he joined his friends heading over to the waterslide.

Climbing up the large set of stairs, Dan had to grip the railing and catch his breath for a while before he could get in line for the yellow waterslide.

"No, go first," Dan breathed, gesturing for Dean to go on fisrt. Dean disappeared down the slide, and Dan finally had recovered and went in front of his friends.

The light turned green, and with the help of the bar above the opening of the slide, Dan launched himself down the slide to go faster.

Yes, waterslides were a bit cramped and dark, but the ride is totally worth it. Shooting down guided by the water, Dan slid down the dark passage all the way to the bottom. There was light, and Dan was at the end of the slide, Dean waiting for him. Both of them waited for Chris and Tyler, Chris arriving first.

They all went down a few times, yet Dan never got used to the long climb, having to catch his breath each time.

Crashing at the jacuzzi once they were done, some Foxes joined them, all sitting on either side of each of them. Dan put his arms around the two girls relaxed beside him, but he ignored them otherwise, instead chatting to his friends and a few other Bears that had joined them. He noticed that Chris, Tyler and especially Dean were paying a lot less attention to the girls beside them than even he was. Maybe he was just imagining it.

It was Tyler who suggested that they go to the steam room - try to see who could stay in the longest. They all left the jacuzzi, leaving the Foxes to do their girlish things or whatever.

As soon as they opened the door, they were greeted with a huge waft of steam. Stepping inside and closing the door, Chris and Dean opted out immediately, claiming they couldn't breathe.

Sitting down on a ledge, the hot moisture burned the back of Dan's legs before he got used to it. There was one other person in the room with navy trunks, but he seemed to be minding his own business.

"Can you actually stand steam rooms?" Dan asked, staring out in front of him and trying to concentrate on breathing.

"Kind of. I can only last about a minute. I'm actually kinda done now so yeah, gg," Tyler shrugged, getting up and leaving Dan. Dan decided he wanted to stay a little longer, since he was getting used to the excessive amounts of steam that clouded his vision and breathing. He was just starting to be able to see most of the room.

Breath in, and out through nose. Do that a few times. Then breath in, and out through mouth. Do that a few times. Repeat. That's how he was getting used to the excessive amount of steam.

"Howell? Is that you?" the boy with the damp mop of black hair and navy trunks spoke up with an all-too-familiar voice. He was closer to Dan than he had originally thought.

"Lester? Really?" Dan groaned, yet moved closer to him to actually see his features. Moisture was clinging onto him, and his fringe was sticking to his face. Dan suddenly became aware that he probably looked similar, with the exception of curling hobbit hair. His eyes were still as icy as ever, though.

"Fancy meeting you here," Phillip paused, "Half-naked." Dan blushed a little, but it was probably too steamy to be noticeable. The other thing Dan noted was the fact that they were the only people in the steam room, and that it was definitely too clouded to see in from the outside.

"Yeah, well... I'm surprised you're even talking to me, you little faggot." Phil was silent for a moment, as though Dan's words had actually taken a toll on him.

"Where did you get that necklace from?" Phillip asked, pointing at the leather and stained wooden bead one around his neck that was clinging to his bare chest. Dan had tried hard the whole day to make sure it didn't fall off.

"Um... my grandmother gave it to me..." he started, confused at Lester's sudden interest.

"Yes, well... it's quite nice." Was Lester actually complimenting him?  _What the fuck is going on here?_ Dan thought.

The next thing Phillip did basically answered his question. He reached out and took hold of the necklace, examining it while it was still around his neck. His pale arm was up against Dan's tanned, bare chest, and he stiffened under it, completely aware of the contact between both of their skin.

"Hm... good quality," Phil muttered, fiddling with a bead between his fingers. Dan actually had to control his breathing. He was staring into the other boy's eyes, watching them scan him in concentration. He looked up once, both of their eyes locking together.

"Part of me really wants to see how good of a kisser you actually are," Lester mumbled, leaning in a little closer.

"Mhmm. Is that so?" Dan replied.

"Yeah... sometimes I really do wonder how you get all the Foxes..." Phil's voice was surprisingly low as it always was, and it never failed to maybe turn Dan on a little. It was practically a low growl now.

"Pure charm, I guess," Dan smirked, closing the gap between them.

Phil's lips were soft and plump from the moisture in the room, and they opened up immediately as soon as Dan basically asked, trying to get them to part. Their tongues met, swirling around, and Phil tasted of cinnamon cereal.

Reaching up, Dan grabbed Phil's face with one hand, pulling him closer than he already was. Their legs were in the way, so Phil had to partially get up so he could straddle Dan. Phil had to stifle Dan's small moan in his mouth as Phil rested himself right above the other boy's groin.

They had to detach earlier than usual for a breath since it was already quite hard to breath in the steamy room. After quickly catching their breath, they reattatched, resuming where they left off.

Dan was quite content exploring Phil's mouth; licking the grooves of his teeth and then meeting his tongue once again. In return, Phil actually turned out to be a pretty good kisser as well. Well... possibly a  _little_  bit better than that...

Phil began lacing his hands upwards, letting them crawl onto Dan's chest. He quivered underneath the feeling of them - bare skin against bare skin. Both of their breathing was steadily getting heavier.

The boy's hands began traveling across Dan's chest, distracting him as he was continually kissed by Phil. As his hands were moving around, they found Dan's nipples, drawing circles teasingly around them.

They both had to part for a breath, and Phil suddenly decided to finally grab Dan's nipples, giving them a little twinge.

"Mm... perky," he muttered, and Dan had to bite his lip hard instead of answering him. Tilting his head back, he felt his head hit the burning wall behind him, but that didn't matter right now. All he was trying to do right now was to be quiet.

Phil took advantage of Dan's position, kissing him, but just missing his lips. Kissing down his jawline, he continued to massage Dan's chest with his fingers. Reaching Dan's neck, Dan shifted a little, because his neck was a little sensitive. But dear god whatever Phil was doing to it was perfectly okay.

He wasn't biting, but he gently kissed everywhere he could, still staying above his collarbone. Occasionally, he barely dragged his teeth across his skin, making Dan whimper softly even though he was still biting his lip. For a while, he even played with Dan's necklace between his teeth, the tension of his teeth close to Dan's skin immense.

It was when Phil's found Dan's sweet spot, Dan dug his head even further into the wall as the other boy remained at that spot, licking and occasionally gently nibbling. Only then did Dan let a tiny moan escape from his mouth.

Moving his hand up, Dan ran his hand through the other boy's hair, ruffling it up. His other hand crawled up Phil's back, tracing simple images with his fingers.

When Phil pulled back, Dan groaned a little in dissapointment. Even so, after a breath, Phil's lips were crashing back onto Dan's, and he kissed back hard.

Phil was suddenly shifting a little on top of Dan, placing his hands flat on Dan's chest. All at once, Phil was pushing Dan roughly against the wall, and Dan had to hiss in pain from the hot moisture burning into his back.

Phil was all over him now, leading their kiss. Dan let his hands roam all over the other boy, exploring every surface he could. When Phil removed one hand (the other one was still pushing him against the wall), he began to run his hand through Dan's hobbit hair, occasionally tugging at it softly. Dan couldn't help it, but at one specific tug, he bit on Phil's lip, making him moan a little. He continued gently nipping at Phil's lip, pausing at times for a breath.

With a few clever skills, Dan somehow managed to turn around, pushing Phil up against the wall. He began making his way down, small kisses trailing down his neck. He was looking for Phil's sweet spot, and he knew when he found it because Phil tightened his grip in his hair.

As he was licking and sucking at that particular spot, Phil muttered: "Jesus fucking Christ on a bicycle, Howell - if this is what you're like when you're all hot and sweaty, then damn do I want to see you more often like this-  _ahhhhhhhhhhhh_..." Dan kept on working on that spot - making sure that it left a nice, large mark.

The door opened, letting some cool air filter through. The boys almost jumped apart, fixing their hair and Dan crossed his legs.

"Nah, man. I can't do it. It's impossible to breathe," a voice said, closing the door once again. Dan and Phil were still breathing hard - panting almost. There was still something in the air, but it was dissipating. Both were speechless.

Breathless, Dan decided to leave without saying anything, closing the steam room door behind him and going to the bathroom.

Dan had a little problem to fix before he could go out again.

Once that little problem was solved, he leaned his head against the wall of the the bathroom stall he was in and slammed his hand up against it.  _What was it with him and Lester?_ The bugging feeling of the fact that he was the one that actually leaned in couldn't leave him. Shaking his head still against the wall, he took a deep breath in and left the stall, fixing himself up in the mirror to make himself look decently presentable.

Leaving at last, he found all of his friends by the dive tank, competing with some Lions.

"Hey, where did you disappear to?" Chris pushed him playfully.

"Um... I got distracted," he thought quickly.

"Did you see Tyler do that dive? He's pretty good actually..." another Bear behind him commented.

Grinning, Dan went over to the diving board, getting ready to dive off the top. Before he actually did anything, he looked around him. He could see his friends beside the pool, cheering him on. When he looked a little harder, he could see Phil watching him closely from the other end of the pool, and Dan gulped nervously.

Taking a deep breath, he jumped off the diving board and dived smoothly into the water. He felt the impact of the water, and how he smoothly slid deeper and deeper into the pool. He could feel something slide off his neck, and to his horror, he suddenly realized it was his beloved leather necklace. Dan struggled a little bit, but he needed to breath so he was forced to swim up to the surface again without it.

Gasping, he reached the surface again, swimming to the edge to get out.

"Crap," he muttered.  _I guess I'll have to ask some staff or whatever after so I can get it back_ , he thought as he watched Phil dive as gracefully as a dolphin into the water.

As they left, Dan watched Phil carefully when he had finished changing into his regular, everyday clothes. He had left a remarkable hickey on Phil's neck that wouldn't be easy to hide, but he also thought he saw a suspicious bit of leather string peeking just above the rim of his shirt.


	5. Phil

"Yeah, no problem. See you later... bye," Phil hung up his phone. His mother had asked him to pick up something at Sainsbury's before school, and even though he really didn't want to, he knew he would have to everntually. She had to call him because apparently she had only remembered after he had left. Plus she said she would pay him back.

At least the Sainsbury's was near his school.

Checking the time just before he tucked his phone away, he was told that he had about just over 20 minutes to get the Tylenol (since his mother was sick yet still wouldn't have time to pick it up herself). Sighing, he redirected himself to the Sainsbury's.

As he walked inside, he was aware that he looked a little out of place with his galaxy backpack and being the only teenager there. He ignored the occasional glance of ' _shouldn't you be in school_ ' as he scanned the medicine rack for just what he needed.

Picking out a red and white bottle, he clutched it in his hand as he made his way to the check-out. Admittedly, he did hesitate once before he fed the self-serve check-out machine his own cash (but grabbing a chocolate bar to go with his purchase for later), but reminded himself that he could always lie to his mother and ask for more money than he actually spent.

Both items later, he checked his phone for the time. Apparently he still had enough time to use the washroom. Hiking his backpack further onto his back, he casually veered off into the Mens' Washroom.

What he found inside was definitely not what he expected.

At the far wall off to the corner a little, he could see two boys his age making out, one pushing the other against the wall. From shock, Phil had to turn around suddenly and exit the room, recovering.

He had to admit though, they were bringing back some unusually pleasant memories.

Taking a deep breath, Phil turned back around, stepped inside and opened his mouth to speak. Except nothing came out because the people had just become recognizable. The boy pushed back up against the wall moved a little so his face was visible.

Troye.

That wasn't the only thing that made him mad. The other boy began to seem familiar- yes. He was the Bear that Troye was being friendly with at last week's party. Phil was shaking with anger now and found it a little hard to control and calm down his voice.

"Ahem," Phil coughed, not really knowing what to say for the situation. The two boys immediately stopped snogging, Troye even pushing the other boy off a little gently. The other boy turned around quickly and quite guiltily, ashamedly pushing up his hipster glasses with the back of his hand.

"I thought I told you to not talk with...  _him_  again," Phil sneered, disgustedly pointing at the other boy and frowning disapprovingly at the young cub. Troye shrugged with a surprising amount of confidence.

"I'm sorry, Phil. Does me being with Tyler bother you?" he shot back, Phil stepping back when he snapped back.

"You do not have what it takes to be a Lion, Troye Sivan. Turns out I was wrong about it. You can back to the hole in the ground where you came from," Phil growled dangerously, keeping his stance yet balling his hands up into fists.

"I don't give a shit about whether I'm a Lion or whatever. Tyler and I will create a gay uprising, and we will be victorious. So you can go screw yourself," Troye smirked, and Tyler looked up at Troye adoringly and proudly. Phil felt sick, and the other boys really had to rub it in by turning back to each other and kissing each other, this time passionately.

Phil definitely didn't need to piss anymore, so he swivelled around on one heel and got the fuck out of that Sainsbury's.

He was still shaking, because he had just lost his friend that he had really began to like to the wrath of the gays. He was walking really quickly, so he soon got out of breath and had to force himself to slow down.

 _Maybe music could calm me down?_  Phil thought in desperation. Stopping quickly, he took out his phone and earbuds, plugged the white earbuds in and set them in his ears. Unlocking his phone, he waited for the free music app to load (and pressed X on the ad because who doesn't fucking hate ads [unless they're cool af]). Not even scrolling through, he immediately pressed shuffle, turning off his phone and sliding it back into his pocket.

Since his playlist really hates him (not even joking, like, every time it does this), it decided to play  _Uprising_  by Muse, just to rub it in even further. At first Phil didn't even do anything, just stopping and looking away at nothing in annoyance like he was in  _the Office_.

After the initial shock, Phil quickly took out his phone again and skipped the song. He turned it off, but left the phone in his hand just in case.

His playlist must have been livid, because the song it played next did nothing but rub it in even further. At first Phil smiled, nodding his head to the song, but once he recognized the song as  _Thnks Fr Th Mmrs_  by Fall Out Boy he stopped immediately. Phil was so, so tempted to chuck his phone down the pavement, but he held in the urge and gripped it instead as though it would be crushed in his hand.

Because he was so done with everything and life itself at the moment, Phil had to just sit down in the grass and take a breather. He skipped the Fall Out Boy song and let  _I'm So Sorry_  by Imagine Dragons play. He let the hardcoreness of the song envelope his soul and let himself forget everything at the moment. Including the maths test he had later that day.

>•<

Rushing into History late, Phil regrettably sat beside Howell, refusing to take anything out as their professor took attendance.

"You're in a horrible mood," Howell mused, tapping his fingers subconciously on his desk. Phil scooted his chair to the opposite side of his desk a little so the other boy was slightly farther away from him. Phil pondered whether or not he should ignore him or say something, but then he remembered the other boy was a Bear.

"Yeah, well... I lost a promising cub today," he sighed in an over-exaggerated manner to hopefully catch the other boy's attention. Luckily, his tactic worked.

"Oh really?" Howell pressed on, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah... caught him snogging a Bear this morning in the Sainsbury's washroom," he waved off as though it didn't really matter much.

"Who was it," Daniel narrowed his eyes.

"This kid named Troye Sivan... I think he said his boyfriend or whatever was called Tyler..." Phil cautiously watched the other kid from the corner of his eye to watch for his reaction.

There was a huge bang on a desk which caused not only Phil's but a few other kids' heads look up. Howell had punched a fist into his desk, hard, and he looked extremely angry.

"Goddammit Oakley," Daniel whispered angrily, staring and concentrating at a fleck of Sharpie on his desk.

"What?" Phil asked, urging him on.

"I'm going to have to- talk to him. It's just... he's the second Bear I've lost today," he sighed, hiding his face in his hands.

"Oh really?" Phil continued, his interest peaking.

"Yeah, Tyler was one of my close... um... friends," he admitted, shrugging, "And just this morning my other close friend Dean confronted me and told me he was dating an-  _Unpopular_ ," he spat out, "And not just an Unpopular but also another dude." Gesturing over to a different set of desks, Phil could see a boy with freckles and bright green eyes staring affectionately at a scruffy, black-haired boy beside him. They almost looked cute- what was Phil even thinking they're both fags, one even an ex-Bear.

It only struck Phil now that he had an actual make-out session with Dan before, and that's only what he had caught Troye doing. A short little make-out session. With just another Bear. So was Phil being a hypocrite or was there actually something behind this all?

Really, Phil was just being stupid. All he had to do was convince himself that he was just doing this to manipulate the leader of the Bears. And maybe even make Howell fall in love with him. Just to make it hurt just that much harder.

The thing which really confused him was that it was Phil who started everything. He was the one who invited Howell to his house. He was the one who kissed Daniel. He was the one that took the effort to turn Dan on.

Then again, it was always Dan who left. Daniel was the one who immediately left the house after Phil had kissed him with no word at all and no reaction. Howell was the one who left the steam room after they were interrupted. He was the one that always left, and it always left Phil utterly confused.

Even this whole thought process confused Phil, so he angrily put his face in his hands, shaking his head.

"Did you bring the Powerpoint?" Howell asked completely normally, as though their past conversation had never happened or whatever happened between them at Phil's house had never happened.

"Oh, yeah actually," Phil replied, thankful for the change in topic as he rummaged around his bag for a green USB key. Taking it, he threw it across his desk as it skittered over to Howell all while Phil closed up his bag.

"It's not finished, but I brought my laptop just in case," he added right after Mr. Smith announced that they would also get this block to work on their project. From in front of him, he could see Steven smiling from just above Chloe's Macbook, probably at them and not whatever was on Chloe's computer.

Setting out his laptop on his desk, he logged on and stuck the USB key in. He realized he probably didn't need to put the Powerpoint on the USB stick yet, but oh well.

Opening the Computer folder, going inside his USB folder and opening the Powerpoint, Phil waited for it to load. Howell took out his phone and earbuds, offering one earbud to Phil. Now  _that_  was weird. Even so, Phil took it because he did forget his earphones in his locker.

Dan looked down at his phone, and eventually decided to press shuffle.  _United States of Eurasia + Collateral Damage_  by Muse began to play, and Phil couldn't help but smile a little.

Quickly scrolling through the Powerpoint to find anything he needed to polish up, he managed to finish it up with a few taps of the keys.

"Do we need anything else?" he casually asked Dan as he flipped through the presentation, it ending on the black screen.

"Hold up, yeah... pass it here," Dan took the laptop, concentrating and then typing for the next few minutes.

"Okay, it's good now," he exclaims.

"Free time," Phil mumbles, closing down his laptop (after saving the presentation on the USB key) and whipping out his phone.

They were both still sharing music, so they had to sit somewhat close to each other. Nevertheless, they still didn't pay any attention to the boy beside them.


	6. Dan

The time was 1:09. AM.

Dan was still awake.

This wasn't unusual, as Dan usually goes to sleep at around 2:30 in the morning, or sometimes later if he forgets to check the time. His parents go to sleep at 23:30, so he has to be careful until then, when he could do things a little more freely.

It's not like he did much during these extra 3 hours in the morning. Right now he was catching up on Attack On Titan, but usually he just scrolled through Tumblr and Twitter. Occasionally he would creep upstairs and grab a snack, or even finish very last-minute homework that he would just realize would be due the next day.

As the intro song of Attack On Titan began to play, a notification banner at the top of his phone screen alerted him that AmazingPhil had just reblogged his Tumblr post.

Smiling, Dan paused the episode and tapped the notification. AmazingPhil was one of Dan's favourite Tumblr accounts, and somehow they had become decently good internet friends. Occasionally, they would chat about random things on the internet, and rarely about their real lives. However, they did discuss their favourite secret hobbies and so on - like Dan remembered telling him how he loved to play the piano, and when he figured out that AmazingPhil loved dry cereal way too much. He even remembered joking:  _If I ever get the chance to meet you, I'll make sure I put my cereal under lock and key_.

Right now AmazingPhil had only reblogged a post of his, but Dan decided he wanted to chat with his friend. Going to the account's fanmail, he quickly typed:  _Hey... so wat r u doing at this unearthly hour in the morning?_

It took a minute, but Dan was notified when his friend answered:  _I could ask the same for you. Just same old same old- scrolling through the internet. You?_

 _Just watching a little Attack On Titan_ Dan replied.

_Oh my gosh, you like Attack On Titan too?!?_

_Yeah..._

_Every time I talk to you you get more and more awesome ^-^_

Dan smiled quietly to himself, curling up in his covers and huddling around his phone:  _Awww... I'm not that awesome in rl tho._

_I'm sure you are!_

_Nah, I'm not the type of person you'd like to meet in rl, trust me ik. But I'd bet that you would be an awesome person! :D_

_Not really..._

_Aw, don't be so modest_

_No, srsly. In rl I'm not a good person._

_Well, I think you're a wonderful person._

_No, it's just... I don't know how to explain it._

_Do you have lots of friends?_

_Yeah..._

_Then what r u complaining about?_

_... They're not really real friends._

_Oh. I actually know what that's like._

_Do you ever feel like sometimes you just want to start all over again?_

_Yeah, ik where ur going. It's like we're the same person, really._

_I want to meet you sometime, danisnotonfire._

_Same. You would be a lovely person to meet._

_Then we could be real friends together!_

_Yeah. You could be my first real friend_

_Wait. You've never had a real friend? You're a friend virgin?_

_That was a weird thing to say_

_I'm sorry, I don't think sometimes and it's too early in the morning._

_To answer ur question, I guess, yes I'm a 'friend virgin' as you like to say it_

_Shut up_

_Make me_

_Would you like me to ask whether you're a different type of virgin?_

_Wait what? No fine I'll shut up_

_Then we can be friends together! I haven't had a friend since I was a wee child!_

_I'm just worried that when you see me you'll hate me_

_Stop being so negative Dan! I love you already like this and I would love to meet you in real life!_

_It's just... well... I think I'm a bit different in rl_

_That would be for me to decide._

_Ok ok. Maybe in the summer or something when school's out of the way._

_Yeah I'd like that. :) You've gotten me into an Attack On Titan mood so I'm gonna go watch some_

_I'll talk to you later_

_I'll make sure you do - then we can organize our friendship!_

_Ok, see you later then x_

_Bye x_

Smiling, Dan scrolled through their conversation on more time before clicking the home button on his phone. He was in such a good mood right now and nothing could possibly bring him down.

Stretching, he rummaged his nightstand for his earbuds, plugging them in and playing some Muse on a quiet volume (or as quiet as it could go as Muse isn't a very quiet band). Slowly shoving his blankets off him, he adjusted to the cold and threw an extra thin blanket over his shoulders. He was wearing only boxers after all since the weather had become nicer and was soon to become hell.

Standing up, he wobbled out of his room stealthily and crawled up the stairs.

Quietly, he opened the basement door and tiptoed to the kitchen. At least the kitchen had tiles, so they wouldn't creak. Plus his parents were both sleeping like logs upstairs on the other side of the house.

Opening the fridge as quietly and slowly as possible, he searched around for something decent to eat. Stupid Dan, the Nutella was in the cupboard.

Carefully making sure that the fridge didn't make too much noise as it closed, he shuffled towards the cupboard. He didn't really need to stand on his tiptoes to reach the high shelf since he was so tall, but his bare belly was up against the edge of the counter.

The tips of his fingers brushed up against the Nutella jar, so he maneuvered them so that the jar could get closer to the edge and he could grab it. It was almost empty, so it almost fell off the cupboard ledge and made a huge noise. Luckily Dan snapped out of his clumsy trance just in time.

Looking inside, Dan decided he would probably eat the rest of the Nutella this night as there was barely any left. Going into the pantry, he replaced the old Nutella's place with a new jar of Nutella. Grabbing a spoon and covering his shoulders further with his blanket, he slunk back to his room in the basement.

Half-jumping on his bed, he snuggled under the covers and stuck the spoon inside of the Nutella, popping it in his mouth once it was full of that creamy brown goodness.

Let's put one thing straight, and that's definitely not going to be Dan. Or Phil. Nutella is heaven. That pure chocolatey-hazelnutty deliciousness that is smooth to your mouth, that sticks between your teeth so you still have a taste of it long after you've finished your Nutella snack. That longing for more when you finish. The Nutella where you have to sit, take a moment and dramatically look in the distance to really appreciate its beautifulness before you go back to Tumblring or Netflixing.

That's what Dan was feeling.

Regrettably, he set it down temporarily on his nightstand and picked up his phone. Opening it up to Tumblr, he scrolled through his feed, which mostly consisted of AmazingPhil's reblogs.

There were a few Amazingfire posts that he scrolled past, though. There weren't many shippers, but they were consistent.

Possibly about a year and a half ago now, Dan had first gotten his Tumblr. Since he was high on lack of sleep, he thought of the most random name he could think of - danisnotonfire - and logged in for the first time. Tumblr took some time to get used to, but eventually he got the hang of it. He began to just fill his feed with a few anime, Doctor Who and Sherlock posts and a few random classic Tumblr posts, adding more fandoms as he went into them.

After a few months, he only had a few followers, but one time as he was scrolling through his Explore he found the popular account AmazingPhil. The post was by him, and it was very witty and had many notes. It was also quite cute. So then, at that life-changing moment, Dan decided to check out his account and follow him.

The next time Dan went on Tumblr, his feed was filled with reblogs and posts from AmazingPhil. Since it seemed that he was online, Dan had decided to send him a fanmail, somewhat hoping that this adorable, Tumblr-popular account would acknowledge him. It didn't seem likely though, because he probably got hundreds of asks.

To his utmost surprise, he was responded. Dan still remembered the time he got a reply:  _Hello danisnotonfire! You seem like an amazing person and the feeling is mutual, and I do think we should become great friends. :D_ Dan was so happy when he got that that he actually stood up and skipped to the kitchen to get some celebratory biscuits. Even though he barely knew him, his account in general made AmazingPhil seem like the best person in the world and he got a weird, light feeling in his stomach.

After that, they always ended up on Tumblr at the same times, which usually ended in long conversations or creating long text posts in which they said witty things to each other on the topic. Dan's account gradually became more popular as AmazingPhil paid more and more attention to him.

Because of this hugely popular account and a growing-popular account were spending so much time together on the internet (Dan had eventually found AmazingPhil on Twitter), some fans of the two accounts who were bored decided to create a ship. And yet the Amazingfire ship began. Luckily they weren't too annoying, but Dan blushed every time he saw a post, fanart or fanfic about Amazingfire. When he asked AmazingPhil about all of this, he just said it was cute.

Then again, no one outside the internet knew about this secret Dan. Especially not the fact that he was shipped with a potential dude. And possibly even enjoyed the attention.

As he was aimlessly scrolling Tumblr, an unknown number had just texted him  _Hello_. One, it was weird because it was rare for someone to get ahold of his number (unless they were a Bear or a Fox), and, two, why would they be texting him at 1:30 in the morning?

Curious, he texted:  _Who are you???_

It didn't take long for the mystery person to answer:  _Phil_.

_I know lots of Phils_

_Phil Lester_

Oh. Well that took a very bad turn.

 _Fuck off_  ... No answer.

 _How did you get my number?_ Dan continued.

 _Easy. I just asked a few people_ Goddammit _._

 _So what are you up to?_ Phil asked.

Dan was about to say he was on Tumblr and watching Attack On Titan, but then he stopped himself. What could he say?

 _Just a bit of netflix. u?_ Leaving his messages, he went to his contacts and created a new one with Lester's number. Not thinking, he automatically named it Phil.

_Not much, i think all my friends went to sleep :P_

_Yeah, well, my friend I was talking to earlier went to go watch something so yeah_

_What friends?_

_All of my bears - plus i have an amazing internet friend_

_i bet my internet friend is better than urs_ Since when did Lester have an internet friend?

_u wish_

_no ik_

_thats not tru u havent met mine_

_no ik this person is the best person in the world_

_other than me?_

_yeah right_

_but still my internet friend is so much better and im not giving them away that easily they dont need a dick of a friend_

_then mayb they should stop being friends with them_

_shut up youre one to talk_

_well at least my friend is better than urs_

_why on earth are we arguing about internet friends_

_idk didnt u start it_

_no u did_

_u did actually_

_go look at the chat stupid_

_fine i started it but face it - im better than u_

_how r u supposed to judge that_

_ppl tell me_

_thats a biased view_

_oh really_

_im obviously better_

_ok this is just getting stupid_

_ur the stupid one_

_im not have u seen my grades_

_wat grades u get in school doesnt qualify whether ur smart or not_

_actually it kinda does_

_why did u even text me in the first place_

_u know... the two leaders of the most popular groups in basically our city should keep in contact_

_so what? u can annoy the living shit out of me?_

_i guess_

_well thats just great. ik how to block ppl_

_r u actually going to block me_

_only if ur a real ass_

_i promise i wont be_

_u say that_

_but i cant promise u u wont want to see my perfect ass_

_i have a better ass than u_

_u dont have an ass_

_well..._

_srsly if there's something that everyone can agree on its the fact that u dont have an ass_

_ok granted u can have that point but that doesnt mean anything_

_whoa im actually winning this better thing_

_actually i have a question_

_shoot_

_why were u playing muse that time i was over at ur place_

_pls dont remind me of that occasion_

_because u were being a fag?_

_shut up_

_no im actually asking a question and i would love for u to answer it_

_it was on my phone_

_yeah mr obvious... plus why was there fob and p!atd? how the fuck do u know those bands?!?_

_how the fuck do you know them?_

_they're my bands_

_no they're mine_

_i bet i probably claimed them first_

_i bet u cant beat 5 years_

_5 years? really?_

_wat_

_same_

_r u actually kidding me_

_no_

_i thought u copied me when we listened to ur music in english_

_do u really think id be that ignorant_

_no one knows about muse tho_

_ur forgetting me_

_well i guess ur the exception_

_tbh, its like the only good thing about u_

_u mean other than my body?_

_r u kidding me rn_

_y would i b kidding_

_i can pick out bad things_

_like wat_

_ur as pale as voldemort or a ghost... or edward cullen "_ More like as pale as moonlight," Dan whispered quietly to himself without realizing it.

_u dont exactly have a flat stomach even tho u do sports_

_pff i barely do sports - just enough that i need to, and i can love my nutella_

_fine ur good with the nutella but u still dont have an ass_

_oh well at least i have a nice natural tan_ The conversation paused for a little as Dan tried to think of something to say.

Instead, he decided to do something risky. Pausing his Muse and taking a deep breath, he hesitantly pressed the button to Facetime Lester. It took only two rings for Lester to pick up.

As it connected, Dan could clearly see a slightly blurry picture of Phil with a blanket up to his chest. His arms were bare so he was probably shirtless. His raven black hair was also tousled and messed up from the night, and there was just enough light to see his features relatively clearly. His blue eyes were shining, looking down probably at Dan.

In the corner frame, Dan could see himself. Panicking slightly, he could see that he was definitely shirtless, but he currently didn't have anything covering his chest, so he hurriedly pulled his fuzzy TARDIS blanket over himself. He could also see his growing-to-be hobbit hair and both of his earphones plugged in. It was also pretty dark, so he turned on his lamp to a low setting so he wasn't completely blinded.

"Well hello there beautiful," Phil growled, the bad quality making his voice sound even more gravelly than usual. Dan squirmed uncomfortably and fixed his hair uncertainly.

"Why did you call? It's funny to see you up at the wee hour of 1:39 in the morning," Lester cooed, Dan blushing slightly but unnoticeably.

"I'm sorry, but texting you was getting annoying so I thought actually talking was easier," Dan mumbled, his voice a bit weird at first as this was the first time he had spoken in quite a few hours.

"Or could you not wait to see my pretty face again?" Phil cocked his head to the side in a curious, dog-like manner. This is probably how he got all of his Foxes - last resort adorableness.

"You wish," Dan snickered.

"Well I wanted to see you again."

"So are you like an overly-attached girlfriend?"

"No, but you're just fun to play with."

Dan blushed slightly, but still retorted: "I thought I was the God, and everyone else was my toys."

"Oh sweetie, it doesn't work that way."

"It always seems to."

"Well now it won't. I can take over and make all of your wildest dreams come true. I can do things Brittany and Jasmine would never be able to do. You know I can do that with a blink of an eye." Dan shifted uncomfortably, crossing his leg over his lap. Lester truly looked like a lion now; a crazy look in his eye with his messed up, L hair. But his attitude was irresistible, and it was making Dan's stomach do somersaults.

"Oh, but deep down you know I can do the same," Dan played along, watching the slightly laggy screen of Lester shift around in his bed. He could see the familiar blue and green checkered duvet slide down his chest a little and reveal a little bit more of his pale self. Dan couldn't bring himself to stop staring, but at least it was Facetime so Lester couldn't tell where he was looking.

"I could make you scream my name," Lester replied, and something about that phrase really turned Dan on.

"I could make you beg for more."

"Oh, how I've wished to see you all hot and sweaty again, panting against me."

"I want to make sure my mark is still there, so that everyone will know that I've got you."

"Oh, yes that?" Lester remembered, his eyes glossing over as he moved his phone closer to his neck. It had been a few days, but Dan's lovebite was still as clear as day. Dan crossed his legs over again.

"Mmm, how I wish I could just touch you right now."

"I really want to kiss those lips perfect of yours," Phil answered greedily, hungrily staring at his screen. Dan subconsciously licked his lips slightly nervously.

"Guess it's down to imagination again," Dan sighed in an over-exaggerated manner, drawing it out all whilst watching Phil on his screen out of the corner of his eye. Phil just licked his lips and shifted a little, sitting up a little straighter.

"I never really had the time to appreciate the nice chest you have," Phil mumbled, and Dan looked down. His TARDIS blanket had slipped off, and his tummy was showing. This time he didn't pull his blanket back up.

"Too steamy last time?" Dan asked, winking and seductively biting his lip as he stretched to show off his stomach a little more. He could hear Phil's breath hitch in his throat a little, which continued to turn Dan on steadily.

"Nah, just too busy feeling," Phil breathed, twisting so his chest was also revealed in the small frame of his phone. Dan's breath was steadily getting heavier. Phil kicked his covers off, revealing to Dan that he was wearing blue pyjama bottoms.

"Aww, you're actually wearing pants," Dan groaned, running his hand through his hair as he scanned what he could see of Phil's waistline on his screen.

"Oh, are you wearing anything then?" Phil piped up, raising an eyebrow.

"Just boxers," Dan confirmed, lowering his camera so Phil could see the band. With his finger and thumb, he snapped the band, making Phil react a lot. His eyes widened, his breathing increasing its rate as he clutched his phone tightly. Dan smiled at his reaction.

"Want a bit of a show?" Dan asked seductively, shifting around a bit as Phil nodded eagerly. He ran his hands down his chest slowly, to which Phil bit his lip at the sight of.

"Remember us together in the steam? The way we moved together, the sounds we made?" Phil nodded harshly at Dan's words, and he began to palm himself.

"Remember how that felt and don't let go of it," Dan grunted as Phil nodded obediently. Dan could remember that moment clearly - Phil's hands roaming on his body wherever they pleased.

"I'm all alone," the other boy squeaked unexpectedly. Dan was not sure whether he meant that there was no one in his house or whether it had a deeper meaning, but it didn't matter so much right now.

"Then that means I'll have to make you moan so loud that your whole neighbourhood will hear you," Dan suggested, Phil nodding weakly. Now that he thought of it, Dan's parents were in the house, but luckily they were fast asleep not only on the top floor (as Dan was in the basement), but on the other side of the house. Dan could allow the occasional moan to slip.

Phil had now slipped his hand down his pyjama trousers and was stroking himself, and Dan pouted.

"Aw, no fair. Stop teasing," Dan frowned, now beginning to touch himself.

"Never," Phil suddenly grinned maliciously, keeping his hand in his pants.

"Please take them off," Dan panted, itching to pull of his own boxers. Instead, he just gradually pulled them down a little so that they were barely on him. Phil's eyes widened to the screen and his hand began to move quicker, his pyjamas slipping down a little so that his v-line was showing at the very bottom of Dan's screen. Dan's eyes carefully traced them as he slipped his hand under his boxer band.

"Not until you will," Phil replied in a strained voice, having to put his phone down in a viewable position since he was too busy with his hands.

"How I wish you were actually here right now - oh the things I could do to you," Dan moaned, Phil throwing his head back. Dan eventually had to put his phone down too in a viewable position as he soon wouldn't be able to hold it anymore.

"Moan for me," the other boy instructed, suddenly taking the lead. Dan obliged, twisting his wrist a little as he wanked himself and forcing his moan a little louder than a grumble.

"That's it... good boy, oh Danny boy," Phil growled, closing his eyes and finally taking his pyjamas fully off. Dan couldn't help but marvel at the beautiful creature on the other side of his screen, a moaning mess by his own words. Dan did take off his boxers though as it was only fair - and to be honest the freedom felt amazing.

With a twist of his wrist and another glance at the boy on the screen in front of him, Dan gradually had to pump himself faster and faster, the feeling building up inside his chest. He could hear Phil moaning which encouraged him to go faster and faster, harder and harder. Dan sometimes let out a moan to encourage Phil, as he was still vaguely wary about his parents.

After many moans and quite a bit of attention to their dicks, Dan came first. He was shaking with the feeling: the thought of Phil, the sound of Phil, the memory of Phil touching him. Just before he did come, he grabbed a kleenex because, 1) Wet dreams were enough and 2) If his parents somehow found out that he was masturbating in the middle of the night on the phone to someone it probably wouldn't end well.

"I'm-" Dan warned Phil just as he came, most of the cum soaking into the kleenex, and him the rest of it up as he came down.

Just as Phil began to go over the edge, Dan had a nasty idea. Right when Phil was just about to go over the edge - his eyes closed and his head thrown back as he was pumping himself vigorously - Dan grabbed his phone and took a screenshot without his face in the frame. It was a vile thing to do, but it would be a great opportunity to get after the Lions.

As Phil began to come down from his high, he cleaned himself off with something off his nightstand and picked up his phone again so he could scan Dan. Dan could see his pupils blown wide, the blue gradually returning as his breathing steadied.

"My god you are something aren't you - even if you aren't even here," Phil mumbled, gazing at his screen.

"Ah, well, some credit goes to you."

"We should do that more often."

"Hm... maybe."

"Goodbye Howell," Phil smirked at the pun.

"Oh you're so funny aren't you," Dan rolled his eyes, "Goodbye Lester." And with that, he ended the Facetime call.

Checking the time, it was almost 2:30, so Dan quickly went to his email. Attaching the photo to a new message, he sent the photo of Phil to an unused email that he had for reasons like this. Later, he would collect that email and send it to everyone who knew Phil - and they wouldn't even know who sent it. The school would care less to find out who sent the photo anyhow. Right after he sent it, Dan permanently deleted that photo off his phone.

Just before going to sleep, Dan decided to check his Tumblr once more. It looked like AmazingPhil had gone to sleep whilst watching Attack On Titan - or was still watching. Dan smiled as he remembered the conversation they had earlier, but sometimes he wondered was he being a lie to his best internet friend?

Plugging in his phone in a charger, slipping his boxers back on and snuggling under the covers, Dan finally went to sleep.


	7. Phil

_Beep beep beep beep._

Groaning, Phil rolled over and slammed his alarm clock until it turned off. All he could think was how he really needed a different way of waking up in the morning.

Turning to get more comfortable and potentially to fall back asleep again, he managed to fall off his bed with a painful thump. So far the day wasn't going in his direction, as though it was passing by him and blowing him out of the way into the gutter. He just whimpered and relaxed his head onto the floor miserably and pathetically.

It took him a while to realize, but he was completely naked, except for his cover that had been wrapped around his waist and sort of caught him when he fell. He must have gotten cold in the night and slipped off his pyjamas.

Only when he rolled over on the floor and came across a cum-covered rag did he remember what happened. Part of him just wanted to groan and regret what happened the night before, but truthfully, he never felt better. He felt refreshed. And it was the first time he came with a dude.

Sitting up, he dragged himself to his closet to grab his clothes for the day. Black jeans, sonic boxers, black t-shirt... okay, yeah, he was good. Plus he was pheeling amazing from last night's events.

Dragging himself out of his room with his phone in his hand, he skipped down the stairs to get himself breakfast. He was already going to be later for school, so he had to have something quick. Plus his parents weren't home - and why would they be anyway? Apparently work was just so important.

Grabbing a piece of toast, he quickly heated some baked beans and poured them on top of the toast. Quickly scarfing it down, he grabbed his backpack and rushed out the door, barely fitting his earbuds into his ears.

Checking his phone, he saw that Howell had texted him that morning. At least he had actually texted Phil.

_Have u heard the new muse song?_

_The Handler? yeah its amazing_ Phil texted back.

_Wait... they have a new song other than Reapers?_

_Yeah where have u been_

_I just checked - they also have a song called JFK + Defector_

_kk i really need to check it out then_

_u better ;p_

Turning off his phone, he continued walking to school, listening to his music. As soon as he got some wifi, he would definitely have to go check out the new Muse song.

As he approached the school, he could see most of the students staring at him. This wasn't unusual, as he was so popular, but this was different. They were staring at him as though a kid had just interrupted a very important assembly, glancing and whispering. Phil barely paid attention though, shrugging it off and continuing to fiddle with his phone.

Getting to his locker, as he was packing his stuff for the day, out of the corner of his eye he could see a rather pretty Unpopular staring at him nervously, not approaching him anytime soon.

Turning around slightly and looking up, Phil quickly winked and cheekily blew a kiss at her, making her blush furiously and concentrate her attention back at her locker.

Closing it up, he spotted PJ on a bench, so Phil hauled his bag over to him. Plopping down, he took out his phone and began scrolling through Tumblr secretly.

"Hey Phil," PJ acknowledged, not looking up from his sketchbook where he was currently trying to draw something. A blue bandana was pulling his curls out of his pale, bright, fanfiction green eyes that were concentrating hard on the image on the paper.

"Hey PJ," Phil nodded in partial interest, "What are you sketching now?" He didn't look up from his phone, and PJ didn't look up from his sketchbook.

"Just something I can't seem to get out of my head. I'm hoping that when I've finished drawing them they'll leave my mind in peace," PJ continued, and Phil glanced over his phone at his faithful Lion's artwork. It was a pair of eyes that looked vaguely familiar, and the way they were shaded suggested that they were emerald green.

"Nice," Phil sighed, scrolling through his phone a little more as PJ erased something.

"Um, I've been a bit curious about something," Phil added, eyes fixed on his phone screen. PJ raised his eyebrow and glanced at his friend.

"Yeah, go on."

"Why are people looking at me strangely?"

"Because you're the leader of the Lions."

"You know what I mean." PJ sighed unwillingly and laid back on the bench.

"What?" Phil continued, dropping his phone and crossing his arms, dusting his fringe out of his face.

"Um, about that," he coughed, dodging the subject.

"Yes?"

"Here - I'll just show you." PJ took out his phone and opened up Facebook (ew Facebook eurgh) to a random, unnamed account. It looked like it was purposefully made for only their school.

"So someone uploaded a picture, no one knows who or how, but yeah, most of the school has seen it," PJ guiltily scratched his head, handing Phil his phone. His friend took it, pressing on the only photo on that account.

It was a bit bad quality, but Phil knew exactly what the photo was. He could see himself on the other end of a Facetime call, stark-naked and on the edge of cumming.

Frowning, Phil turned back to his friend: "Do you know who could have done this?" He was just being intimidating now, because he knew perfectly well who did this.

"N-no. Not a clue," PJ stuttered, pushing himself back a little on the bench. His friend simply snickered.

"Um... what's your opinion?" PJ asked worriedly. Phil just shrugged.

"To be honest, I think it's the hottest I can look - and let's face it - most of the people here have seen me naked," Phil winked at a passing Fox who immediately blew a kiss with her shiny, gross lips that had been abused with lip gloss.

"Just to point out... excluding boys," PJ hesitated.

"Well... yeah," Phil dazed, remembering the boy with the brown hair and brown eyes.

"Well I have to go - see you at lunch," PJ announced, slamming his sketchbook shut, engulfing his half-drawn eyes in the darkness between the pages.

"Yeah, see ya," Phil shrugged, hauling his galaxy bag over his shoulder and leaving to Physics. Yup, to the class beside Howell. And Howell he did last night.

Surprisingly, he was early to his class. He didn't feel like texting anyone or anything, so he resolved to observe people around the room. His eyes strayed over to the ex-Bear and Unpopular who were quietly and adoringly chatting with each other. He just couldn't tear his eyes away from the two.

"How's it going, kitten?" Phil snapped out of his trance, looking up into dazzling hazelnut eyes. Well, they were shooting daggers right now, but Phil was not intimidated.

"Perfect, actually, now that you ask," Phil answered confidently. A glimpse of confusion darted behind the other boy's eyes, but was gone as soon as it was there. He sat down, and that was the last time they even glanced at each other, as Mr. Smith had just strutted into the classroom.

Phil resorted to simply taking notes, even though that was possibly the most boring thing he could do. Well, now that he was actually paying attention the lesson was a bit more interesting than usual and actually made sense. Or at least as much sense that Physics can make.

As soon as the bell rang, Phil remembered he had a free block.  _Perfect_.

Packing up his stuff, he watched Howell out of the corner of his eye, studying his every move. As he stood up to leave, Phil stood up and stealthily followed him. He was like a lion closing in on his prey.

When at last he was out in the hallway, he could tell Howell knew he was being followed. The giant kept on glancing over his shoulder, trying to veer away from the Lion.

Eventually, they had managed to go outside and to the back of the school. There was an isolated brick wall, and when Phil turned the corner, he could see Howell confidently leaning against the wall with his phone in his hands. He looked up as Phil approached him.

"How're you?" Dan asked, putting his phone in his black skinny-jeans pocket and crossing his arms.

"Just swell, how about you?"

"Fabulous." They lapsed into silence, not moving a muscle as they stared at each other in the shady area of the school.

"So... are you going to say anything?"

**Dan's POV**  
**(Ik im not supposed to do this but i really want to so dil with it)**

"So... are you going to say anything?" Dan knew what Phil was probably here for, but he'd just play dumb now.

"What?"

"Got to say anything?"

"I thought you were the one who needed to do the explaining." Dan bit his lip, but refused to say anything.

"What are you talking about? Please elaborate." He recrossed his legs and comfortably set his body on the cold, hard brick wall.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Dan rolled his eyes: "Well, what did you think? Pretty good, in my opinion."

"Yeah, I actually think I looked pretty flawless in that, thanks." That was not the answer Dan was expecting, but he only raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, well, it was my fault I got you there in the first place," he shrugged cheekily, winking once and remaining staring at Lester.

Without warning, Lester charged at him, pushing Dan roughly into the wall. His elbows were jabbed into the bricks and he would have tripped and fallen over if there wasn't a solid object behind him. Lester's elbow was digging into Dan's shoulder while his hand was pushing Dan's other shoulder into the wall. Lester's other hand was pressing up against the bricks, supporting him.

Dan was becoming dizzy. Phil's face was probably only 2 inches away and he could feel his hot breath tickling his nose. He was so close that Dan could only glance at one icy blue eye at a time. They were currently scanning Dan's face up and down, which sent chills throughout Dan's spine. Even so, Dan could not possibly tell what the boy was thinking at the moment.

Dan was utterly nervous now, shaking almost. He was probably going to be killed, and there was nothing he could do about it. There was no way that football could squeeze him out of this circumstance he had been placed in. This was not how Dan was planning to go out - posting nudes. He was too young anyhow. Phil tilted his head like a curious puppy.

He was trapped with Lester's iron grip on his shoulders. To escape, he gently closed his eyes.

Unexpectedly, Phil's lips came crashing down on his. It was rough yet satisfying. Dan slowly got into a groove, gently kissing the boy in front of him. Phil tilted his head a bit more so that their foreheads were just touching, and he slyly slipped his tongue inside Dan's mouth. Since he was trapped, Dan could only move his arms. Gradually, he slid his hands down Phil's waist teasingly, gripping tighter at the hem of his shirt. He played with the bit of fabric between his fingers, occasionally brushing against some bare skin.

Right as Dan was really starting to enjoy it, all of a sudden all he could feel was an immense pain on his nose before he blacked out.

**Phil's POV again**

Dan's figure slumped down the wall, obviously unconscious. As Phil rubbed his throbbing fist, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful, but it had to be done.

Turning on a heel with one last glance of that beautiful, unconscious boy, Phil confidently walked away.


	8. Dan

Waking up on the cold, hard pavement behind a school is never a great way to start a morning. Granted, he had already started his morning, but this was the second time.

Blinking slowly, there was no light to blind him and no wind to chill him. He was completely isolated.

Yes, he was tough, but he didn't want to get up. His face was all crusty and hot, and he could see that his nose was bent a little. His head wouldn't stop spinning, and it hurt like hell at the very back. At least his backpack had caught most of his fall, so he didn't have to add his bum to his list of injuries.

Dan tried to stand up, but just sat back down again because his head wouldn't stop being painful. He would probably have to put some ice on that.

Looking through his backpack, he found some tissues and a water bottle.  _It'll have to do for now_  he thought.

First he touched his nose just to see how bad it was, but that's usually not a good idea so he winced really hard as his hand flew off his face. Apparently he was just going to have to endure the pain.

Grabbing a few tissues and wetting them with his water bottle, he began to dab at his face, cleaning off as much blood as he could. Too bad he didn't have any tape, so setting his nose would have to wait.

Throwing all the bloody kleenexes into his bag, he tried once more to stand up. It still didn't go very well, but he had to lean against the wall to get used to the feeling.

His memory was slowly filtering back as he waited, making his headache even worse. Phil was snogging him, and then he punched him in the face. His head probably went into the wall from the force, and he wouldn't be surprised if he had a mild concussion. Thank god this week's football game had been canceled.

Beginning to walk slowly back to his house, he couldn't help the small tugging feeling telling him that he had definitely deserved it. He would get back at Phil somehow anyway.

He knew he must have gotten strange looks as he walked back home, but he was used to ignoring people. If they got really nosy he decided to just flip them off.

By the time he had gotten inside his house, he had only flipped off a few really annoying pigeons that wouldn't stop bugging him, and they even looked a little offended. Yet no matter, he didn't have to emerge from his house until the next day.

Thank god his mum had to work late today, because that would give Dan extra time. Plus he had the whole house to himself since his father was also away on a business trip.

He wanted to dance around, eat food and blast Muse as loud as possible but then again his headache wouldn't give way. Dropping his bag, he walked to the kitchen and turned on the light.

Grabbing a rag, he stuffed a few ice cubes from the freezer into it, wrapped it up and ran it under cool water. It was cold and painful when he first put his ice pack to his head, but it was helping gradually.

Searching for the First Aid Kit, he took the medical tape out and went into the bathroom. Looking in the mirror with a lot of pain and patience, he taped up his nose so that he wouldn't have to look like Steven.

Going back to the kitchen, he grabbed a huge bowl of ice cream and some painkillers before he retreated back to his cool room in the basement. He basically chilled for the rest of the evening, letting his wounds heal to the best of his efforts, sometimes conversing with AmazingPhil, which made him feel a lot better.

>•<

Unwillingly, Dan woke up when he usually was supposed to. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"Dan? It's time to wake up and go to school! I already have to leave," his mother shouted from his hallway, bursting into his room and turning on his lights. Dan hissed and retreated under his covers like a vampire.

"You were asleep when I got back home, so I'm assuming you're not feeling well," she comforted him, "You can lie in bed for 15 minutes but you still have to go to school. You can always take painkillers, and I made you some pancakes so you can feel better." She kissed the side of his head, ruffled his hobbit hair up, stood up and left.

Dan always felt bad about lying to his mum. He always told himself that he technically never lied to her - he just didn't tell her anything and she didn't ask. The way he was laying she couldn't see the tape he had left on his face. She really was too caring for her own good.

Crawling up, the first thing Dan did was straighten his hair.  _Priorities first_.

After changing and taking two painkillers, he shuffled upstairs to eat his breakfast. There was a plate with a few pancakes on it, covered in Nutella and icing sugar. Caught underneath the side of the plate, there was a small note with his mother's handwriting scribbled all over it:  _Hope you're feeling better Polar Bear! <3_

Smiling, Dan tucked the note in his jeans pocket. His mother was cheesy and sweet, but he liked it because she was the substitute for his father while he was away. Which made him feel even more guilty.

Part of the reason Dan never talked to his mother was because he was worried he would hurt her and make her wonder where she had gone wrong. But that wasn't the case.

It was where Dan had gone wrong.

Finishing his breakfast while holding more ice to his head, he dumped his plates in the sink and went to the bathroom. Taking off the tape, there was a huge bruise blooming purple and blue. Not good.

Even so, Dan didn't want to go to school with a bunch of tape on his face, so he would just have to make do. Plus, he could always put it back on after school.

Rummaging through his mum's makeup bag, he found something called concealer that seemed like it would do the trick. His mother had the same tanned skin like he did, so it looked like it would blend in correctly. But what would Dan know; he's not an artist.

Taking off the cap, he accidentally got a huge glob of the creamy stuff on his finger which almost seemed like too much. Dabbing it on his face, he rubbed it in carefully, and for a long time so that it covered most of the bruise. He was about to add more until he realized that it was starting to look a bit off. Whatever - if someone noticed, he could always say he got out of a fight out of school with another football team.

Shoving it back in the makeup bag, he ran out and grabbed his bag, getting outside and walking quickly to school. He had brought some extra painkillers so the droning voices of his professors wouldn't kill him. The headache was already going to be enough.

He got to school way too soon, and was starting to get subconscious about everything for no ridiculous reason. He fixed his fringe a few million times as he made his way inside.

Walking inside of History, he sat down and didn't even look to see if Lester was there. He just didn't want to bother.

Unfortunately, Lester made it known that he was there by dropping his bag loudly on his chair and walking beside Steven's desk so he could see Dan's face properly. He frowned at first, but then smirked when he saw the hint of the massive bruise hiding behind the mass of makeup. Dan just covered his face with his fringe.

"How's it going, love?" Lester mocked, "Having a bit of a bad week then?" Dan could have killed him right there and then with his own hands.

"Did you bring the project? You should have it since Mr. Smith gave us so much extra time for it," Dan changed the subject. Lester's face dropped immediately.

"You didn't, did you?" Dan shouted, rolling his eyes and slamming his desk. Lester retreated to his desk, shamefully pulling out his chair and sitting in it. He hadn't even noticed Steven and Chloe getting there; Chloe was reading her paperback as usual and Steven was scrolling through his phone, probably looking thorough vines as every few seconds some random song or sound blasted from its speakers.

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

"You forgot? You forgot? So how many times have you forgotten it then?!"

"Twice?"

"More like a dozen! You're worthless, I don't know why anyone even likes you!"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry? I'm sorry?! You really think that's going to help? With your lies? With your deception? With this?" Dan pointed to his nose. Lester was cowering for some reason.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, but I'm done with you. I'm blocking you off my phone for good and I'm not ever speaking to you again. I'm done, I'm done."

"Don't do this."

"Oh, yeah... 'this'. So I can get more of your shit? Your gay crap, luring me into some sort of devilish state of mind. Where it's completely okay to fuck dudes. That's not how it's supposed to work, so I'm just going to go back to my normal fucking life where YOU'RE not going to be a part of. You tried, but I'm sorry, you can drag your sorry little ass away from me and be a little fag." Steven stared at him shocked, but Dan was shaking too much in anger to notice. He was lucky his voice hadn't risen enough for other people to start wondering what they were talking about - the gay incident was going to stay completely confidential between him and Lester.

"You were the one who called."

"But I'm straight."

 _Mmmmm watcha sayyyyy_  blasted from Steven's phone speakers just at the end of Dan's speech, which threw Steven and Chloe into a silent fit of giggles.

Dan was beginning to regret the words that had tumbled out of his mouth, but Steven's outburst had just ruined the moment. Angrily, he flipped him off, which only made Steven and Chloe laugh harder.

Dan ignored everything else for the rest of the day, mostly so that his headache wouldn't get worse.


	9. Phil

Phil couldn't believe that Howell had said straight to his face that... well... he was straight. It was after school already, and even though Thursdays were shorter than normal days, he knew the strange feeling of disappointment wouldn't shake off anytime soon.

Phil was supposed to be straight, but it was fun playing with Howell. Just the way he said it...

All he really needed to do now was just chill somewhere. Maybe stop home, grab some snacks and just chill at the Tree. Yeah, that was a good idea.

Jogging the rest of the block to his home, he reached it and ran up to the side door. Rummaging his back pocket, he got a key and fiddled it with the lock, finally pulling the door open. Running in, he dropped his bag and looked for a box of cereal. There was no sign of his parents, but why would they ever waste their precious time that they could be working instead of making lunch for their son? No matter - this meant more privacy for Phil.

Still wanting to get out, Phil ran up to his room to grab a book and some study material for the unit exam he had the next day. He wasn't reading a book, so any book... any book would do. The first books he saw were the  _Harry Potter_  series because they took up literally half the shelf. Grabbing the  _Goblet of Fire_  and his study notes, he bolted back downstairs and stuffed both reading materials and the box of  _Crave_  into a completely separate book bag.

Locking up his house completely once again, he started towards the opposite direction from where his school was. It was down a few dozen houses and around a hidden corner, but Phil ended up at a small house at the end of the road that looked like it belonged in a horror movie.

No, it wasn't the mansion type, just the narrow, two-story one where wood was caving in at places, the paint was chipped off everywhere and the screen door on the balcony above kept on eerily swinging open with the wind. Even though there was a  _No Trespassing_  sign, there was graffiti all across the side of the house and broken beer bottles strewn across the dead grass in front. It should have looked decent since it was midday, but a huge oak tree stood beside it, casting it into shadows.

This, however, was not the place Phil needed to go. It was close though.

Going towards it, he brushed his hand along a 'For Sale' sign that swung with his movement. He always scoffed at that sign, because who would want to buy the wreck of the house this was? He tightened his grip on his bag strap, glanced around to see if anyone was watching and slipped down the side of the house towards the back.

It was dark and dingy and smelled fresh and damp, and there was loose dirt on the ground because there simply wasn't enough sunlight for grass to grow. There was the occasional weed, but they were mostly around the edges. Phil skipped down to the back, wary not to trip over a tree root.

Emerging to the back, there was a little open space, but it was still rather shaded. The back porch of the house had completely fallen in, but down the yard a bit there was a little ledge with large rocks almost as big as Phil himself. Behind the rocks was a suburban forest - just a small wood that you knew didn't go that far back yet still looked dense with trees.

Jumping down over the ledge made of rocks, Phil dropped his bag and squatted down. There was a nook in the rocks large enough for Phil to spread out comfortably, and it was hidden from the house. It was also hidden from the side as a huge tree grew right beside it, the trunk acting as another barrier. The floor of the nook was smooth stone, so it wasn't that dirty.

Scooting back, Phil relaxed back in a corner, his bag propped up by the base of the Tree's trunk. Checking his phone, he was glad that he hadn't used it that much, because it was still at 88%. At least he brought one of those portable chargers with him just in case.

Plugging his earbuds in, he played his music on shuffle and took out his box of cereal. He just sat there for a moment, forgetting about everything as he continuously munched on his  _Crave_.

He actually needed to study though, so he set aside his snack and took out his study notes. He really hated studying, so this probably wasn't going to last that long. Just a quick read-through throughout the whole unit. Humming each Muse tune that blasted through his earbuds, he flipped each page continuously of scrawled down notes. Some of them were taken in class, others were collected when he realized he wouldn't memorize the content that easily.

He finished in only ten minutes after checking his phone for the time, and Phil definitely wasn't in the mood for studying any longer. He couldn't just go back to the bore of his household just after ten minutes. Flipping to an empty page, he absently sketched anything that came to mind, like the huge and protective tree beside him. He would sketch for a while, then randomly dip his hand in the box of cereal as he thought what he needed to add next.

Drawing really took his mind off things, and he was fully absorbed into his artwork. So absorbed that he barely noticed the person appear in front of him. It took him a few seconds, but Phil jerked his head up and dropped his pencil in surprise.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Howell exclaimed angrily, his bag dropped at his feet.

"I- I could ask the same thing to you," Phil stuttered. He still hadn't recovered from their conversation earlier, and he wasn't expecting to see him until tomorrow.

"Great - just bloody brilliant - the one place I go to escape and now you're here?" Howell talked to himself, looking up and spinning in a circle once as though he was searching for any possible person who could be there other than Phil.

"Well... I've come here for ages now," Phil shrugged, "Why haven't you been here then?"

"I only come here after school on Thursday, just to relax from studies."

"That will probably explain it," Phil nodded, "I usually only come here on weekends when I don't have anything to do."

Howell stared at him, opening his mouth like he wanted to say something and raising his arms. Apparently he didn't have anything to say though, because he just closed his mouth and dropped his arms.

Sighing, Phil hesitantly squeezed into his side of the nook, pulling his bag and items closer to him and staring at a very interesting-looking pebble that he hadn't noticed before by his feet.

Glancing up, he could see Howell consider the offer for a few seconds and then shrug, sitting down and squeezing himself beside Phil. Phil could see the reason behind his acceptance - there was no point in going back home or whatever, as it was probably his regular schedule to disappear after school on Thursdays and people would begin to question. Or he just didn't see the point in going home, as with Phil's case.

Silently, Phil glanced back up at the boy and shyly offered him an earbud. Grumbling, Dan took it and stuck it in his ear, relaxing a bit when he recognized the song.

"Have you... um... studied?" Phil asked, pointing at his abandoned study notes as he reached for his cereal and taking a generous handful. Without approval, Howell casually took some  _Crave_  and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Not really - I'm just going to wing it. Coke?" Howell offered, and Phil's eyes widened. Dan laughed, a small dimple appearing on one of his cheeks. He reached into his bag and took out two cans of Coca Cola. Phil almost sighed in relief, settling back. Howell, a cocaine dealer? Now that he thought about it, probably not.

"Um, sure," Phil nodded awkwardly, taking the cool can. It was still relatively cold, so it probably hadn't been in Howell's bag the entire time. He could hear the  _pop_  of the can opening beside him, and looking at the other boy he saw him take a generous sip of his beverage. Phil did the same, setting his drink between his legs.

"So - what do you usually do when you come here?" Phil asked a little more confidently, staring at the other boy as he munched on yet more cereal. Dan shrugged.

"I usually bring my laptop and play around on it, sometimes watch a bit of Netflix. I mean, it's pretty peaceful here."

"Wait, you have wifi?"

"Yeah - hacked into the neighbour's wifi just, let's see... oh- a month ago? Signal's pretty strong too."

"Really?"

"What do you do here then?"

"Well, I was just studying now, but I just kind, um rest and... listen to Muse, and..."

"Read Harry Potter?" Phil glanced over at his book, which was peeking just above the opening of his bag.

"Yeah, well... sometimes," Phil muttered, scratching the back of his neck timidly and fixing his fringe.

"Oh... um... cool." To be honest, Phil was a bit surprised on Howell's reaction. Howell was turning out to be more and more like him - geeky on the inside.

Remembering what Howell was usually like, Phil frowned. Wasn't he supposed to be mad at him? Why was he acting like this? Maybe it would pass.

"If you don't mind, I'm just going to Photoshop... um, yeah," Howell mumbled, taking out his laptop and logging on. Turning a bit red, he quickly pressed the Photoshop app before Phil could see his background of a bunch of llamas, but of course it was already too late for that.

Giggling, Phil moved the mouse to the desktop button, examining each llama closer. Dan groaned and tried to go back to Photoshop, but Phil wasn't finished looking.

Without meaning to, Phil tasered Dan playfully in the side, making him effectively jerk away from the mouse. After he finished squirming, Phil dropped his hand and bit his lip worryingly. Nope, not now - that was never supposed to happen ever. Howell was peering at him strangely and unsurely, and their whole friendly mood had dissipated a little.

Embarrassed, Phil took out his notebook and continued to sketch. He could feel Howell's eyes bore into him, then a few clicks of a mouse - he was working on some project.

Many things were racing through Phil's mind. What in the world had gotten into him, teasing Howell? The tasering? What was that all about? He nervously dropped his pencil and erased something, brushing the eraser shavings onto his legs.

Then again, why was he even here in the first place? Of all places in the city, him and Phil had to have the exact same secret little hideout. It was all just too cliche and a little bit unrealistic. Phil changed his mind on how he wanted to draw the sun, and erased all of it rather aggressively.

Then it got Phil to worry - what if Howell had brought other people here? What if he hung out with his Bears here? What if he brought a Fox here and... nope, he was not going to go into detail.

Phil didn't like that idea. Yeah, it was fine now that Dan knew, but this place was supposed to be his secret that no one else knew about. The magic and peace in his life. His Narnia. No one else was supposed to know about the little nook in the rock, the strong, protective tree beside them. The whirlpool of thoughts swirled angrily in his head as he erased his paper once again. Screw the sun - if it wouldn't appear on his paper properly then it wouldn't appear at all.

Looking up, he searched for something else to draw. Glancing around, he could see Dan watching his screen intently. The sunlight reflected perfectly off of his eyes, extracting flecks of gold from the brown. As their music changed to Muse's  _Feeling Good_ , Dan even began to hum along, bobbing his head a little.

Looking down back at his page, he began to sketch the little bits of sunlight that he saw in Dan's eyes. Doing this, he remembered PJ's actions earlier and wondered who he was drawing. He continued to sketch that knowing little smirk, and the nose right in the middle.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Phil looked up, staring at Howell who was no longer moving.

"I'm- um... sorry about earlier. The... outburst," he sighed, turning his head around to look at Phil. His eyes were blank.

"Oh, um... I probably deserved it," Phil shrugged, gesturing at Howell's slightly purple nose. Howell just stubbornly swatted his hand away.

"I guess I'm just tired of this shit between us - we just need to get it back to how we were before: casual rivals. I know this," Howell pointed to his nose, "Was from the... um... picture, but now we're fair."

"Yeah, I think that's fair. Unless anything happens, we're good," Phil added.

"Basically," Dan nodded, each lapsing into silence once the agreement was made.

"Uh... do you want to watch a movie?" he interrupted again, lifting his laptop. Phil shrugged and muttered something in agreement, stuffing his sketching materials into his bag and grabbing a spare coat that he had in there.

As Daniel was loading Netflix, Phil spread the coat over their legs, giving them a bit of warmth and comfort.

"What do you want to watch?"

"Anything, really," Phil shrugged, grabbing his coke and some cereal. He paused his music and switched the earphones to the laptop. The other boy thought for a while, and then hesitantly picked  _Star Trek: Into Darkness_. Phil didn't mind - he loved the movie in fact.

As the movie started, Phil pulled up the coat so he could fiddle with the fabric between his hands. Now that he thought of it, the Tree had been pretty lonely until now.


	10. Dan

The movie was about halfway through, and Dan was only half-paying attention. It felt like the boy beside him was sleeping with his soft breaths, but he knew that wasn't true as he was constantly shifting around.

There was hardly any space between them since the nook was technically only for one person, and Dan almost thought that Lester was leaning on him - but that would be just nonsense. He was probably just imagining it. He reached over the other boy to grab another handful of cereal.

Phil shifted a bit, clutching harder at his coat which was now up at his chest. As the movie continued on, they both remained absorbed, Dan even biting his lip when Spock was fighting Khan. He knew what happened, but he couldn't help but to be anxious each time.

As the movie was slowly beginning to end, Dan could feel small, spare drops of water trickle onto his leg. His eyes flickered over towards them, somewhat acknowledging them, but they just flickered back to his laptop screen. They weren't too much of a bother, and they were quite cool as well.

Near the very end of the movie, the rain began to get a little harsher, and Dan couldn't help but get a little cautious about his laptop.

Pausing the movie, he exclaimed: "Um, Phil? Lester? It's starting to rain, and I don't really want it ruining my laptop. I'm sorry it hasn't quite finished-"

"No, it's fine," he interrupted, "I've seen it before. Yeah, this leaves it on a but of a cliffhanger, but I can always watch it at home anyhow. It's no bother." He shifted around, unplugging his earbuds from my laptop and stuffed them into his bag, which he brought closer to him and away from the downpour.

"Thank god this tree is here - otherwise we'd be soaked," he continued, staring at the rain fall heavier and heavier just beyond the branch span of the tree above them.

"You know... I've always really liked it here... it's always just so peaceful," Dan mumbled, pulling his bag closer to him. Both boys were still in an after-movie mood, so they were both content to just sit and stare at the rain splashing onto the ground, running down in streams and mixing with the dirt. You could also hear each individual drop splatter on the rocks, around them and over their heads, each spot turning slightly darker in shade.

"Have- have you ever brought... erm... anyone else? Here...?" Lester spoke up suddenly, and Dan looked towards him. He was still staring at the rain, blank face and all, except his hands were still fiddling with his jacket.

"Um... no... never," Dan drew out slowly, thinking. This was his personal place, and no one else was supposed know about it. It was his secret getaway. Which brought him a terrible thought: "Wait... have you?" He bit his lip as he glanced at the other boy one more time for his answer.

"No," he stated firmly, "And let's keep it that way." A weight was lifted off Dan's shoulders, and he sighed in relief a little, leaning back towards the wall of the nook.

"Deal."

"So... should we move?" Lester asked hesitantly, pointing at the pouring rain just a few meters in front of them.

"Yeah, probably," Dan shrugged, grabbing his bag to be ready to put it on his shoulder, "Actually, my mum gave me a tenner to go get a meal. Care for a cheeky Nandos?" He winked, making himself look even more ridiculous.

Lester just rolled his eyes: "I'm up for a bite, cheeky or not. And anything to get out of this poor weather." Dan nodded, getting ready to jump up.

"On the count of three," Dan instructed, and Phil agreed, readying himself as well and putting on his jacket, "One... two... THREE!"

Both boys immediately jumped up with all of their belongings, bolting into the pouring rain and towards the side of the house. They spontaneously shrieked as the chilling water hit them, almost immediately drenching them. However, once they began to get used to it, their shrieks turned into boyish laughter as they burst out into the front lawn and ran down the street.

"Where are we going?" Phil shouted from behind Dan.

"I don't know!" the other boy shouted back gleefully, grinning madly.

"I thought we were supposed to be getting a cheeky nandos!" Phil replied.

"Oh yeah! Follow me then!" Dan remembered, starting to head in a specific direction and slowing down since they had both gotten a bit tired.

"Follow me... you can follow me..." Lester sung under his breath whilst catching up to Dan, kicking a loose pebble into a puddle.

"I will keep you safe..." Dan sang along, earning a shy grin from the other boy, who continued to sing along, "Follow me... you can follow me... I will protect you..."

"Actually, I just remembered," Phil interrupted, "I think I have a fiver or some quid somewhere in my bag - I'll pay you when we get there." Humming, Dan nodded in acknowledgement, watching the rain hit the pavement.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, listening to the rain hit the ground, and the occasional car to pass and splash water onto the pavement.

Finally reaching the Nandos, they entered and got a table, time passing relatively quickly. They both remained in silence, gradually drying off as they thought of what they should get.

"Should we just get a full chicken and breadsticks and just share that? I'm not that hungry, I don't know about you..." Dan spoke up at last, dropping his menu.

"Yeah, that's fine. And I think Lemon and Herb would be fine for the spiciness," Lester nodded, getting up with Dan as he dug around his bag for his extra quid, "Here - just so that you're not paying for everything."

"Thanks. I'll be back," he gestured to the counter, Lester sitting back down in his seat. Straining a smile, Dan walked over to the counter and ordered, paying and pointing to which table they were at.

Returning to his seat, Dan fiddled with his thumbs, not quite sure how to break the growing awkward silence. Neither of the two seemed to have anything to say, or anything interesting to bring up. Which just left Lester glancing at his phone and Dan playing with his napkin.

"So...um... do you know if there's any parties soon?" Dan coughed, lifting his gaze up to the other boy's eyes. Lester shrugged, dropping his phone onto the table.

"Not many really - nobody's really set anything up... well... there is Emmet's on the weekend..." he hesitated, thinking.

Frowning, Dan replied: "Isn't that one going to be a bummer? Emmet never hosts good parties - everyone always leaves after an hour."

"Well we could try this time, never know who could show up," Lester continued.

"Yeah, true. Then again, I do have other stuff I have to do anyhow... not even including all that homework that cow Ms. Craig gave us. Ugh, I think I'm just going to forget about it."

"Well I definitely have important things to do this weekend," Lester insinuated, grinning.

"I bet you do," Dan answered bluntly. At that moment, their waiter came, dropping off their food. The boys automatically nodded in thanks, each taking a breadstick. They slid the plate in the middle so they could each pick at the chicken, taking a bit for themselves.

"Do we have anything tomorrow in Physics?" Dan brought up. Usually he was not one to bring up academics outside of school, but considering the lack of conversation happening between him and Lester, he couldn't really think of anything better to say.

"Don't think so - probably just some textbook stuff unless Mr. Smith has a surprise for us," Lester pondered, taking another bite of the chicken, "Which reminds me - I should remember to bring my earbuds otherwise I'm going to be bored like shit."

"Yeah, and I need another notebook still..."

"Oh, I think I have yours."

"Really?"

"Yeah, somewhere in my house. Probably under my bed."

"Could you bring it back for tomorrow? Thanks."

"Oh, and I never asked. What did you think about the new Muse album?" Phil brought up, hitting the table with his hand as his memory came back to him.

"It was a bit weird at first, but I actually like it quite a bit. It's very good."

"Yeah - and I liked the whole hidden meaning behind it. Matt Bellamy really is great, he would be an amazing person to meet someday... Dom and Chris too..."

"You're starting to sound a lot like a junior high girl talking about One Direction or something."

"Well, Muse is quite a bit different - and wouldn't you like to meet them sometime?"

"I suppose." Dan was suddenly distracted by his phone, which had made an abrupt pinging noise. He quickly checked it, giving the sender a hasty reply.

"Who's texting Mr. Popular here?" Lester asked, smirking. Dan glanced up from his phone, realizing he had been a bit occupied.

"Hm... someone... Fox I think," he shrugged, taking a bit more chicken.

"Cool. What's her name?

"Brianna? Bethany? Bridget? Yeah, I think her name's Bridget..." Dan waffled, texting something quickly and then looking back at Lester, who was staring off somewhere else.

"Hey, um... I just remembered... my mum wanted me home a while ago... she wanted to do something with my brother and me or something... sorry, I just remembered and she's actually getting pissed now," Lester began, holding up his phone as he stood up. For some strange reason, he began subtly grabbing a few breadsticks at a time and throwing them into his bag.

"Sorry I have to leave - but yeah..." he continued awkwardly, "See you later - tomorrow." Dumbfounded, Dan watched as the boy left the restaurant, back into the rain. It had gotten lighter - just at a nice trickle.

"Yeah... okay," Dan mumbled, not really to anyone anymore. It came across as unusual to Dan because he didn't realize having a family would have responsibilities and so on. He only had his mother - no siblings - who didn't even expect him at family gatherings or whatever because she knew he didn't like them. It's not that they didn't spend time together - they did occasionally.

Shrugging, Dan texted Bridget a few more things. He ate a bit more chicken, finished the breadsticks and left. Maybe he could do something with his mum. Watch a movie or play Mario Kart or something. She was usually home by then.

And he should probably appreciate the little family he had - even though the foundation was not quite built on trust - especially on his part.


	11. Phil

Hurrying away from the Nandos, Phil shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and picked up his pace. It was already a bummer to be stuck in the rain when his house was kind of farther away, so he shan't take any longer otherwise it would just make him even more miserable. Plus it would be a waste of time to stop by the tree again.

Phil was shaking a bit from the cold, but mostly from anger. How could Howell be one step closer to him in taking over dominance over the school with his Bears by getting Bridget already? At the moment, they were pretty equal, even though Phil liked to think that the Lions were just the tiniest bit more dominant.

Kicking a loose stone across the pavement as he walked, Phil remembered the other groups. There had been other groups that had tried to climb the social ladder - what was that one stupid one? Yeah, the Sloths. But they really lived up to their name: they were slow to pick up on everything and ended up at the bottom of the Unpopulars with their attempts completely forgotten. Almost forgotten. Phil remembered all of them. Each and every one. With a bitter hate of course.

High school students were a lot like animals: you had to fight for your dominance over the school. Bears and Lions had fought long and hard, but they definitely deserved the top rungs of popularity. The Sloths hadn't made it because they didn't have to stuffing to, but also because they had a stupid name. Since when were Sloths ever going to make it to the top of the Animal Kingdom? Case in point. There were some Vipers at one point, who did have quite a better name, but the Lions easily stamped out their existence.

Phil cringed at the memory of the ending of the Vipers. He was still only a young cub, but he remembered standing behind older Lions and watching them beat up the two remaining Vipers. The girl with a spiked necklace was already unconscious and slumped against the back of the school wall, but the boy was backed up against it beside her - glasses broken and blood running stealthily out of his mutilated nose. He remembered the looks in their eyes, pleading for them to stop, but the other Lions had no mercy. The boy ended up in the ER after that and stayed in the hospital for a long period of time, and sometimes his eyes haunt Phil to this day. This memory was the sole purpose why Phil only used words, and rarely physically bullied someone.

With one last kick, the stone scattered into the gutter. Phil held his phone tightly in his pocket, going around the gutter because of that remaining fear of his phone falling into it. He was almost home now, but he still had a ways to go. Since his face was damp from the rain, he tried wiping it off with his sleeve, which only really made it wetter because his coat was also pretty drenched.

Phil was beginning to think of when he went home after that day; empty inside, curling up in his bed. The duvet was cozy and warming, but Phil still felt cold. Those other Lions could have killed someone. And Phil didn't do anything about it. He could never get over those ex-Viper's stares after the incident. The other Lions disappeared after that event, so Phil was the one who got all the shame from them. Luckily, the next year, the boy and girl went to college, and Phil went up to his second year of high school - and became not only a fully fledged Lion but became the leader of them all since Jared had left.

Jared. Phil still remembered him too. Jared was the leader of the pack before Phil was. He was pretty mean to other people, but he definitely had a soft spot for Phil - Phil was always his favourite cub. Which is why Jared took Phil under his wing and eventually handed over the responsibility of being a pack leader to him. Jared had also worked so hard to bring the Lions back up the popularity ladder as well - because considering they were one of the oldest groups in the school, somehow the leader before Jared managed to bring them almost down to the bottom. Phil didn't want to waste Jared's hard work, but rather build onto that. Which is why he only uses words for now.

There was only one time he broke his personal promise: Daniel Howell. That idiot had no right to post nudes of him, so even though he definitely deserved the wrath of the Lions, Phil couldn't stop shaking after that experience.

Howell had somehow managed to go up against the same wall that the boy and girl had been almost murdered at. Howell didn't know that of course - he was too young and was an Unpopular back then. But Phil did. And when he realized the situation he was set in, he just broke. He couldn't feel anything; everything was numb. What probably pushed him over the edge the most was when he spotted the remaining stained blotch of blood from the incident. They could never fully clean it off.

Somehow he still knocked Howell unconscious. It was only after when he had realized what he had done. Even so, he still put his mask back on and hid under his shell from the thoughts that would never leave him.

As he was opening the door to his home, he hummed the first tune that came to his head. He really needed to forget all of this - sometime it would be the end of him.

Skipping up the stairs to his room, all Phil could think of was why couldn't he be in a normal high school where none of this excessive drama happened. Yes, Phil was in drama, but it wasn't to help put more wood in the fire - he used it to cover himself up more. No Lion would want a gay sissy for their leader.

Then again, Phil hadn't known any other life. This high school had become a part of him. How different could other schools be? Whatever the circumstances, Phil still decided to tread water and stay at the top.

"Phillip?" Phil heard his mother call him from downstairs just before he could walk into his room.

"Yeah?"

"Phil, honey? Could you come downstairs please? Your father and I have something to tell you." Phil froze after throwing his bag and coat into his room.

First of all, why was his father home at this time of day? He was always on a business trip, and if he wasn't he was at work. Then the other thing: usually his parents weren't too bothered about what he did. Why now? Did they know something? Phil hoped to god that they didn't.

"Yeah... sure mum," Phil mumbled weakly, just loud enough so his mum could hear. Fixing his shirt and fringe absentmindedly, he shuffled down the stairs and into his dining room.

Phil's mum was relaxed against the back wall, her arms crossed and reading glasses on. She was studying the laptop in front of Phil's father. Phil's father was sitting at the end of the dining room table, his laptop in front of him, his bag and some papers scattered around him. His brow was furrowed as he scrolled through his laptop. Phil took a while to scan his father, as he hadn't really seen him in a long time.

At long last, Phil's father looked up at Phil, a smile stretching across his face: "Hey cub. How's it going?"

"Um... great?" Not really. And the pet name use was actually pretty ironic.

"Come here, your mother and I have a surprise for you," he opened his arms for Phil, and Phil hesitantly walked into them around the table, awkwardly patting his father's back. This was seeming to turn out relatively well, considering it didn't seem like he was in trouble. However, it did look suspiciously like a pregnancy, and Phil didn't want to put up with that. He didn't want to have to deal with a baby or even a younger sibling snooping in his 'personal' life.

Pulling out of the hug, his mother beamed: "Your father has worked so hard, and with all of that traveling he has managed to get us a deal for a family vacation this Spring Break. We can actually have a vacation where we can spend some quality family time together!" This was better news than Phil was actually expecting. Spring Break was starting the day after tomorrow, and all he had really planned to do was hide in his room and take a break from humanity. Plus it would be nice to get to know his parents a bit more.

"Honey..." his father glanced at his mother.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. But we'll still spend loads of time together!"

"So... just where are we going and when?" Phil interrupted, still trying to keep his voice blunt and that hint of interest out of it.

"Oh, it's this nice place in the mountains..." his mother began.

"The Alps?"

"No, your father couldn't get a deal for there. These are in Canada." Phil was utterly confused now.  _Canada_? Of all places? Wasn't it like a frozen wasteland or something? And so far away?

"Plus I heard something about the ski slopes are still open, so we could all go skiing!" his mother added.

"There's still snow there? It's spring..." Phil trailed off disappointedly.

"Oh, no. Just on the mountains and the ski resorts," she confirmed. Good to know. At least it wouldn't be freezing cold.

"It's this nice town called Banff, and we could do lots of stuff together. We would probably leave on Saturday, considering it would be a really long flight overseas and then a bus to the actual town, but we would have the whole week to do things together!" his father exclaimed, "However..."

"What, dad?" Phil pestered impatiently. There always was something.

"It won't only be us. We're going with a very good work friend of mine. We actually do a lot of business together." Ah, well, that's not too bad. More time for Phil to have for himself.

"We did hear that they have a nice boy around your age," his mum added. Not too bad. Maybe that kid was cool.

"Maybe I could hang out with him a lot," Phil suggested, shrugging.

"Oh, yes, that'd be great. I would really love to get to know the Howell's more personally than just at work." What. Phil stopped. No way. No possible way.

"Oh, it would be nice for you to go out and get real friends - not just all of your 'kind of' friends at school. And it would be nice to have a strong family friend - you could have a second family when your fathers are away doing business," his mum's smile grew wider, "Oh, actually, do you know any Howells at school?"

Phil gulped: "Yes." He was starting to feel sicker and sicker to his stomach.

"Oh that's wonderful!" she beamed, "Then you must know a bit about him! How convenient! Maybe you should start hanging out with him at school! Maybe tomorrow..."

"Actually I'm busy tomorrow..." Phil lied. He was going to need as much alone time as he could possibly get.

"How is he?" his father asked, intrigued.

"Um- actually, I just remembered... I really need to pack. You said we were leaving Saturday? Yeah well... there's not much more time..." Phil rattled on. The one week he thought he was going to be free he actually was going to be even more trapped than at school.

"Oh yes, of course, good thinking Philly. Do that right away," his mother encouraged just as Phil disappeared through the doorframe. As he scuttled away, he could hear his parents discussing how they had managed to get such an extravagant vacation organized on such short notice.

Shutting his bedroom door behind him, he ran through his closet to search for his travel bag. Pulling the suitcase out, he dragged it beside the edge of his bed and opened it. Staring at it, his mind went blank and he had no idea where to begin. As for his travel-on, he would probably just use his school bag and pack that after school on Friday.

Still, nothing came to mind. The only thing that kept on going around in his head was what could happen during the next week. The good, the bad and the worse. Then again, there was also the problem of figuring out which was which.

Picking up his phone, he went to his messages and hesitantly pressed  _Danny Boy_. Thinking over what he should say, he frowned before typing:

_Get the news yet?_

It took a few minutes, but he was soon replied with:

_what? r u moving or something?_

_no, just wait_  He texted back. Howell didn't text back for a while. Phil rolled around bored, putting some music into his speaker and playing quietly enough so that it didn't disturb his parents. If they gave him the respect of personal space, he would give them respect too.

However, that still wouldn't stop him from singing as loudly as he pleased with Matt Bellamy. Sometimes he would stand up and throw some clothes in the suitcase that he would probably need, and once he even pulled out Howell's notebook from under his bed and threw it in his school bag. He wouldn't really have done otherwise except for the fact that that notebook was like a poison in his room.

At long last, Phil's phone chimed with another message.

_there is nO WAY IN HELL im staying with u_

_so u got the news_

_i fucking wish i hadnt_

_me either_

_is there a way we could just... not go?_

_cant. id disappoint them and i cant anymore_

_... i guess ik wat u mean then_

_gtg i have to figure out ways to survive the next fucking week_

_kk me too and im not seeing u tomorrow at school no matter what_

_we have seats beside each other in physics_

_other than that_

_and i still have to give u back ur notebook - i h8 having it here_

There was no answer after that, so Phil threw his phone down across his room onto a pillow and huddled himself onto his bed. That son of a bitch should have never gotten into his life - he just made everything more complicated and everything more messed up.

Phil was going to have to think of a plan.


	12. Dan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter that I have pre-written on Wattpad. That being said, the story is still being written, but slower than I have been putting these chapters out. Please do not worry if the chapters start coming out slower, because I actually have to write them now.

The cab stopped, and Dan scooted out of the car after his mother. His dad paid for the car trip as Dan and his mum took out all of their luggage from the boot.

"You ready, Dan?" his mum beamed, holding her purse close to her.

Dan shrugged: "Yeah, I guess." He forced a smile for his mum's sake, but she was too busy childishly jumping up and down. "Calm down, mum. It's just a vacation."

"Ooh, but it's exciting, isn't it?" she stared at her son with bright eyes.

"Let's go then," his father smiled warmly as the cab left. He adjusted his laptop bag on his shoulder and grabbed his suitcase, his family following in pursuit as they went through the revolving door.

"I love revolving doors so much - they're so fun," gushed his mum.

"You're starting to sound younger than me," Dan rolled his eyes, "Wait, no! Please don't go a second t-" Too late; his mum was already completing a 360 in the revolving door and coming back.

"Honey..." Dan's father trailed off. There were a few people staring at their family, and both were red in the face.

"Oh boy - that really brought back memories," his mum exclaimed, giggling. Dan couldn't help but start to laugh along with her: her mood was pretty contagious.

Fiddling the bag strap of his black imitation-leather backpack, he stared at a man who was waving seemingly at them. He turned around to ask his dad about the man, but his father was already off towards this mysterious person.

"Um... dad? Who is that?" Dan muttered, picking up his pace so he wouldn't fall behind and dragging his suitcase behind him. The other man with actually pretty messy ginger hair was waving enthusiastically at their family with two hands now.

"Pete!" Dan's father shouted, finally approaching the other man.

"Good to see you, James," the other man greeted, taking his hand and going in for a quick hug, "So is this your son Daniel?" Dan bowed his head at his name, not really sure how to address himself.

"Yes. Dan, this is my coworker and very good friend Peter Lester," his father announced, smiling wide.

"Um... hello," Dan said, taking Pete's hand and shaking it.

"I'm not sure if you've met him before, but my son Phil is over there by the gift shop with my wife," Pete explained, and Dan caught himself before he could scowl when he glanced over to see Lester checking out some magazines. He didn't want to be rude - after all his father had seemed to make a really strong friendship with this Peter, and he wanted his father to keep that since that was one of the things Dan didn't have.

"Why don't you go over and say hello?" his mother suggested behind him, "We'll just tag all of our baggage, but come back when we get into line!" she pointed at the line leading up to a desk with the airline listed above it. Seeing no other option, Dan left his suitcase with the other three and strode over to the little shop.

Not wanting to greet him immediately, he stood a ways away from Lester and picked up a home design magazine. Home designs were for some reason somewhat interesting, but he had to focus.

Glancing over at his target, he watched him put down a random magazine and scan the rack for another to look at. Dan watched his hand glaze over  _Cosmopolitan_  and check behind his shoulder, but was surprised when he instead picked up the  _National Geographic_  magazine and flip to a page with photography. Animals and some wildlife. Dan almost laughed, coughing to cover it up and flipping another page of his magazine.

Another thing he noticed about the boy was that he was wearing glasses. So apparently Lester was blind now? Dan had a hard time admitting it to himself but Lester really suited his glasses and he almost looked...  _cute_... with them on.

Phillip glanced up and saw Dan standing there trying to read his magazine. He quickly shut his closed and set it back in its place, pushing his glasses up.

"Oh, erm, Howell," he commented, gaining Dan's attention. Dan looked slowly up as to reduce suspicion of him being here all along, gradually putting his magazine away as well.

"Hullo Lester," Dan replied in a bored tone.

"Nice week we're going to have." This conversation was already forced.

"Phil? I think we should go back to your father," a woman with mousy brown hair popped up behind her son, "Oh, who's this? A school friend?"

"No mum... this is H- Daniel," Lester stammered.

"Oh, Dan! Sorry to not recognize you, my mind's a bit sluggish right now as it's basically four in the morning. You seem like a nice lad, I hope you two get along well!" she gushed, and Dan already knew she was going to be disappointed. Lester was already a drama kid, so Dan would probably have to pick up his acting game.

"Yes, it is quite early in the morning, Mrs. Lester..." Dan started.

"Please call me Catherine," she smiled curtly at him, turning away to pay for her neck pillow.

"I still don't get why she made me get up at three in the morning," Phil grumbled, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses and crossing his arms.

"It's the plane's fault, really," Dan shrugged, "Planning a flight for five in the fucking morning." He had had barely enough time to even straighten out his hair this morning.

"Let's- let's go back," Phil suggested, adjusting his shoulders so that his iconic galaxy backpack wasn't falling off him.

"Yeah, sure," Dan nodded along, hesitantly following him.

"Are you boys ready for this?" Dan's mum asked them eagerly.

"Yeah," both of them answering at the same time, glancing at each other when they realized they were too much in sync.

She chuckled: "Grab your bags then," she winked, "We're off now." Each grabbing they're own suitcases, they followed everyone else through the maze of the line markers (Dan and Phil going underneath them) to the front of the line.

"I'm open here," one woman waved underneath a  _United_  sign. Everyone glanced at each other and decided that Dan's family go first.

However, right as their family started talking with the woman and checking some of the papers, the station beside them became available for the Lesters.

Both boys ended up awkwardly standing beside each other, waiting for their parents to finish up with their flight tickets.

Lester started laughing to himself, so Dan stared at him, narrowing his eyes: "What?"

"Just thought of something hilarious."

"No kidding. Tell me, I'm  _dying_  to know." Phillip stared at him, thinking of what to say.

"I was just thinking about you getting pat down in Customs," he grinned.

"As if," Dan rolled his eyes, "Everyone knows I don't wear belts. I've tried but it still doesn't work."

"Well with your luck you probably would anyhow."

"Shut up, four-eyes," Dan retorted. Glancing back, he could see a flicker of offence behind Lester's eyes, which vanished quickly. However, he did subconsciously push up his glasses anime-style, sighing.

"C'mon, let's go," Dan said quietly, trying to invisibly say his sorry behind his tone. Lester looked really hot with his glasses, almost as if Dan would-

"Yeah, we should go," he spoke up suddenly, straightening up and following their parents to the luggage drop-off.

"On vacation for Spring Break?" the man queried Dan as he took his luggage, putting it on a conveyor belt which lead to the plane.

"To Canada," he shrugged, keeping his black bag as his carryon.

"That's nice. I've been there - splendid country actually," he reminisced, taking Lester's suitcase

"Really?" Phillip piped up skeptically.

"So are you two... cousins?" he questioned politely.

"Family friends," Dan interrupted hurriedly. He really hoped that they didn't look related. Or even close.

"That's great. Have a nice trip, lads," he smiled, waving at them as they left for Customs.

"Do people actually mistake us as relatives," Lester blurted out suddenly as they waited in line.

"I dunno." Both knew that they were resisting the temptation to go on their phones. As much as they would like something to distract themselves with, they had to be wary of the limited battery they had. Then again, there were always chargers around the terminals.

Taking out his phone and unlocking it, he went to the settings to see if he could obtain a wifi. Airports always had a bit, but it was usually pretty crappy. Lester also seemed to decide that that was a great idea, so he also took out his phone.

Pressing accept and watching the little 2 bars of wifi appear beside his service. Now to what he was going to go on. Tumblr? Nah, Tumblr mobile could barely load as it was, much less with this connection. Plus with the new update it was just going to make him even more miserable.

Twitter was fine. Going on, he decided to tweet something.  _Going on a trip for Spring Break_. Smiley emoji with teeth. Dan debated for a bit in his head whether or not he would add the plane seat emoji along with the airplane one. He decided on just the airplane one considering that since he rarely used emojis in his tweets, he didn't want to overdo it.

A few people had already favourited and retweeted it,  _AmazingPhil'_ s user popping in between the few people. Dan wondered what it would be like to be famous and have so many notifications and not be able to read them all. 4 were easy enough to read.

Someone had replied  _Where to?,_ but before Dan could answer, they had come to the front of the line. Taking out his laptop, he put it in the bin along with his phone and shoes, shoving his bag behind it.

Glancing over at Lester, he was really taken aback at how adorable he was, waiting for his items to go through the X-ray thing. What was he thinking - he couldn't be adorable. But was he? With his ruffled hair, glasses, cozy-looking polar bear print sweater and mismatched, colourful socks. Polar bear - no, that was Dan's nickname. Turning away, he shoved his stuff through the scanner.

"Just walk through the scanner please," an officer instructed Dan, pointing to the doorframe structure with blinking lights on the top. Calmly, he walked through and prayed that the buzzer didn't go off.

Stopping, he sighed in relief when the officer nodded in approval. Glancing back at a disappointed Lester, he grinned triumphantly. Rolling his eyes, Phil continued through the scanner as well, not setting off the buzzer either, much to Dan's disappointment.

"I was really hoping you'd get a pat down," Dan sighed mockingly as he stuffed his laptop back into his bag.

"What? So you could watch it, you kinky bastard?" Phil replied cooly, tying up his final shoelace. Dan chose not to reply to that, slugging his bag back on his shoulder and following their parents.

"I think it's terminal 58..." Pete ruffled through a few papers, "That should be at the end of this hall..."

"Better get going then," Dan's mum beamed, almost skipping away from the others. They all followed her, at a slightly slower pace.

"So an 8 hour flight?" Lester sighed.

"Yeah - and it's an 7 hour time change," Dan added, "So when we get there it'll only be 8." Phil groaned. "But I think we have a bus ride to actually get to the town... it'll be a few hours I think, so we'll probably check into our hotel just before lunch."

"Well it's already 6:30... the plane should be boarding soon," he commented, checking his phone.

"Before it boards, though, I still want breakfast," Dan exclaimed.

"I'm starved," Lester agreed.

"Okay so this is the terminal," James announced, "We'll just be waiting here until we have to board."

"Why don't you kids have breakfast," Dan's mum answered, "Just take this twenty - but please don't use it all, just get something small."

"Thanks mum," Dan took it, dropping off his bag on a seat beside where their family were resting, "C'mon, let's go." Hesitantly, Lester followed behind him.

Stopping at a café, they waited in a small line, scanning the food item options. They ordered a beverage and something to eat each, and went off to walk around the terminals.

Someone in a different terminal was waving at Dan, and he had to stare at them awkwardly until he recognized them.

"Wait here," he instructed Lester, running off to go greet his fellow Bear cub.

"Hey Dan! So are you going on vacation too?" the enthusiastic, younger cub asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Er, yeah. Where are you going, Max?"

"California. I heard it's nice and warm there, and I'm really excited."

"Nice..." Dan stared at the little digital screen underneath the terminal number, it flashing  _California_ , "I'm going somewhere cold. Skiing."

"Um... I don't mean to pry but... er... why are you with Phillip Lester?" he chirped hesitantly.

"It's a long story," Dan said quickly. No- he could have said something better, like it was a coincidence, but no now it was too late. Max's jaw dropped, glancing at probably Lester behind him and then his pack leader. Dan glanced behind himself to see Phil starting his blueberry muffin.

"N-No, I... I mean it's a family thing," he stammered.

"You're related?" Now Max looked really confused.

"No! It's just... recently his family turned out to be friends with my family and we didn't know about it..." Dan explained quickly before Max could think of his own theories. It was already bad enough that someone from school had seen him and Lester in public.

"Oh, sorry about that," Max sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah, no, this isn't something I wanted but - I kinda have to do it for my family, y'know what I mean?" he brought pity unto himself.

"Yeah, sorry man. But at least try and have fun - whether it's with him or not," Max gave him a sympathetic smile.

"You too, bud," Dan gave him a quick bro-hug.

"See you after Spring Break!"

"Yeah... see you then," Dan replied, already heading back to Lester.

"Cub?" Lester guessed correctly, not looking up from his phone.

"Yeah. Nice kid," Dan shrugged, opening up his sandwich and taking a bite.

"We should probably head over back to our terminal," Lester commented, sipping his coffee, "Our plane should be boarding really soon."

"Have you seen any charging stations anywhere? Or at least an outlet?"

"There's a charging station right between our terminal and another one. Let's go." They left, going back to their families. Rummaging through their carryons, they grabbed their chargers and headed over, finishing their breakfast as they waited for the last few percents to rise up.

"Shame iPhones die so quickly," Dan sighed, watching his charge from 97% to 98%.

"You know if you turn down the brightness and close the apps then it'll conserve battery?"

"Really?"

"I don't care if you believe me - it'e just it's worked for me."

"No, I'll take your word for it this time." Their conversation was interrupted with the airport announcing that their flight was boarding first-class passengers. "We should go." Dan took his phone off the charger, turning it off and putting it in his jeans pocket.

"No- I only have 1% left..."

"It's charged enough, it's fine..."

"Okay, it's done now. Let's go." Shaking his head, he let Lester follow him back to their bags.

"Ooh, we're boarding the plane now," Dan's mum claimed excitedly.

"Calm down mum. It's only a plane ride. Stop being 2 years old," Dan laughed.

"Dan's right, Lillian," his father chuckled, "Start acting like your normal age."

"But what if I don't want to?" she protested.

"Does everyone have their passports?" he changed the subject.

"I do now," Dan said as he took his passport.

"Then let's go." They all waited behind the rather surprisingly large line of people to get on the plane.

"You boys are seats 25 a and b," Lillian whispered to Dan and Phil, "We're not far away from you guys - we're actually in the same row - just in the middle isle."

"Okay," Lester confirmed, glancing and glaring at Dan.

"S'not my fault," he whispered back so that only he could hear.

They showed their passports to the flight attendants and gave them their flight tickets, walking down the little passageway to the airplane. They could already hear the engine of the plane, and were starting to already feel the ambience of being in a cabin.

Walking through first-class, Dan stared enviously at the already-obvious luxury difference from this and Economy class. Whatever; the whole plane was a lot wider and bigger in general, so it shouldn't be too claustrophobic.

Finding row 25 seats a and b next to each other, Dan glanced back at Lester in case he wanted the window seat, but he seemed to have no intention of getting it. Instead, Dan shuffled inside and took a seat. There were only two seats here, so there wouldn't be a mystery person to sit next to them and break their tension.

This was going to be a very long plane trip.

Whoever was sitting in Dan's seat previously must have been very large because he had to adjust the seat belt quite a bit.

Lester was already looking at the airplane safety brochure. Kicking his bag underneath the seat in front of him, Dan stared over Phil's shoulder to look as well. To be honest, they sometimes gave him a bit of anxiety because he always began to think of the worst-case scenario. What if the plane did go down? What if his parents didn't make it? Or what if he couldn't save his laptop? He didn't really consider death all that scary though, his own death was irrelevant.

Shaking himself mentally, he picked up the Air Mall magazine. He really shouldn't go and over-think things like that - it was really bad for him.

The Air Mall magazine was always such a strange thing, because it basically consisted of items that you would see on television ads, things that you think you need and things that you would never even think of buying.

Time seemed to pass quickly flipping through the Air Mall, because sooner than later the flight attendant was going through the routinely safety speech. Dan only paid half-attention; he had heard it many times before, and the flight attendant was only somewhat cute. Plus he was still very tired from being woken up so early in the morning.

The plane started to move very slowly, and Dan stared out the window. He could hear Lester unwrapping some gum, but he knew he wasn't going to be offered any. That was okay - he already had a cherry-flavoured lolly and - his favourite - a piña colada-flavoured lolly to help him with the changing air pressure.

Their row was in a relatively good spot, because even though it wasn't on the wing, you could still see it and have plenty of space to see the ground (which was currently only cement). Dan watched the people with the large glowy control things direct the airplane to the runway.

He could feel the whole plane vibrate underneath him, and roll slowly to the runway. Before it actually started going down it, however, he took out his cherry lolly and popped it in his mouth. As much as he didn't want to seem sexual with his lolly, at the moment he just didn't give a fuck and played around with it in his mouth, rolling it around with his tongue. He could almost feel Lester's eyes on him, but he kept his eyes on the window.

Dan remembered going on planes when he was smaller, and his parents telling him that liftoff was like being on a rollercoaster. How it was fun. But now Dan just thought of it as a very boring rollercoaster. It didn't really do much. Instead, he concentrated and tried to pinpoint the exact moment the wheels lifted off the ground.

Watching everything get smaller and smaller was calming and strangely comforting. He could see little buildings, and tiny cars race by on the maze of highways and roads. The sun was barely rising, so even though it was extremely bright, he could still see little lights everywhere in the city.

As the airplane was getting higher and higher in the sky, it started to get closer and closer to the clouds. There weren't all that many, but there were enough. Which then got Dan thinking about clouds. They were all really just a bunch of water particles that fogged your vision if you were in one. They weren't like cotton candy and angels didn't live on top of them, watching people bustle below.

"Daniel!" Dan moved his arm quickly since it had gotten pinched quite hard.

"Goddammit Leste- oh..." Dan mumbled, immediately taking the lolly out of his mouth.

"What would you like to drink, sir?" the flight attendant asked him.

"Erm... do you have any Coke?"

"Is Pepsi okay?"

"... fine."

As she was serving him his drink, he opened the little table, sliding his plastic cup into the indent so that it wouldn't fall over and folding his napkin neatly. Above it was a small television screen, which was currently showing a map of how far the airplane had flown. So far the dot looked like it hadn't moved much at all.

Lester was already beginning to take out his laptop, so Dan immediately commented: "Are we allowed to do that yet? Isn't the pilot supposed to say something?"

Lester stared at him annoyed: "You idiot - he already said something while you were on your own planet." Before he could completely open his laptop, Dan noticed the collage of cat stickers on the back. He was going to say something about it, but Phil was already browsing through his downloads.

"Do you have anything good?" Dan asked casually, staring at his screen.

"Why do you care? Don't you have your own laptop?" Lester glared at him.

"Well... the flight's 9 hours... I thought it would just be easier to use one laptop at a time..."

"You've got a point," Phil sighed, offering Dan an earbud for him to take.

"So what do you have?"

"Well... mostly anime to be honest. AOT... SAO... Free!..."

"Free!" Dan answered suddenly.

"What?"

"Oh, um... could we watch Free! Like... a Free! marathon or something?" Dan did his best to give Phil his puppy-dog eyes. Granted, they probably needed work but somehow Lester agreed.

"Fine. Anyhow, it's been a while since I've seen the show." Dan quietly celebrated to himself.

Lester played the very first episode. They both watched the fetus version of the swim club race, and then the theme song. The theme song wasn't the catchiest, but it was still good.

Finally, Mako-chan appeared on the screen, going to meet Haru-chan. When Haruka-senpai finally made an appearance for the first time, Dan made an audible gasp and squeaked  _Haru-chan._  He didn't care if Phil was staring at him - it still wouldn't put a damper on his avid obsession of Haru.

Quite a few episodes later, and 95% battery later, Phil shut down his computer.

"Sorry, but it was going to run out of battery," he shrugged.

"But we were only like a few episodes from the finale!" Dan cried out possibly too loudly in anguish.

"I thought you said you've already seen Free! before."

"I have... but..."

"So what do you have on your laptop?" Right. It was Dan's laptop's turn.

"Not much," Dan took out his laptop, "Only a few episodes of Friday Night Dinners and Mock of the Week. Typical stuff."

"How about Friday Night Dinners?"

"Suit yourself."

A few more episodes of that, and Dan's laptop battery was also drained. However, when he looked at the little television screen, the plane had moved considerably and was now well across the ocean.

Glancing at Phil, he could see the boy already sketching. Not quite sure what it was yet, but whatever it was it looked professional. Maybe Dan would just read. Just before he had left, he began reading  _The Psychopath Test_  (which he found from watching Muse interviews ironically), and it really was quite brilliant. He could use this time to get really into it.

By the time he glanced up again, he had gone halfway through the book, Phil was mostly done a different little sketch and mostly everyone was sleeping - including their parents.

"Why's everyone sleeping? And why is everything dark?" Dan whispered to Lester.

"Because they don't want to be so jet-lagged when they get there."

"Oh. Should we go to sleep then?"

"Yeah probably." Phil closed his notebook and tucked his stuff back away into his backpack. Unbuckling his seat belt, he went in the compartment above and grabbed a pillow, throwing it at Dan, and then a pillow and blanket for himself.

"Aww crap," Dan mumbled, checking his phone battery. It had depleted quite a bit for some reason, even though he had only been listening to music while he was reading. He still wanted some battery for when the plane landed.

"Want it?" Phil offered, giving him one of his own earbuds.

"Why?" Dan stared at him, bemused.

"Music."

"Do you have any Kanye West?"

"No..."

"How kanye not have the best music ever?"

"Just shut up otherwise I'm going to take it back." Dan still was very proud of his pun though, so he continued to grin cheekily.

Phil ended up putting it on shuffle, so  _Panic Station_  began to play. Dan reclined his chair and held his pillow in his arms, tugging a bit of Phil's blanket over his own legs.

Just before he was going to completely settle in, he could feel a rhythmic shuffling beside him, and it took him a while to realize that Phil was dancing to  _Panic Station_. It was a catchy song, but now was really not the time.

"Kanye not, Phil? I'm trying to sleep, you twat," he mumbled, closing his eyes. He could hear a little  _sorry_ , and then stillness.

Right after though, Twenty One Pilot's cover of  _Can't Help Falling In Love_  started to play, easily dragging Dan to sleep.

>•<

Dan was awake. He hadn't actually opened his eyes yet, he was still too tired, but he was consciously awake now. He could definitely hear  _Supermassive Black Hole_  playing softly enough into his ear.

From the lack of movement in the cabin, he knew it was still too early to be awake. He should probably go back to sleep.

There was something soft, warm and fuzzy on his shoulder. Dan was curious to know what it was, but he currently wasn't in the mood to move it away.

Slowly opening his eyes by a crack, he could see Phil's head lying on his shoulder. He also realized that his own head was lying against Phil's. It was very comfortable actually, and their bodies were actually pressed up together since they had forgotten to put down the arm rest between them.

Phil was actually very adorable sleeping - his arms had pulled up the blanket mostly up his chest, and his hair was a little messy. He must have also forgotten to take of his glasses, because they were a little askew on his face. Dan feel and almost hear behind the music his little soft breaths beside him.

Nothing in Dan's mind was telling him that this wrong or even weird, but rather comforting. Their warmth between them was really cozy and making Dan feel sleepy again.

_My Song Know What You Did In The Dark_  began to play, and Dan closed his eyes again. Smiling softly, he drifted back to sleep.

>•<

Dan woke up a second time, this time probably at the right moment.

People around the cabin were beginning to stir a lot more, and flight attendants were taking orders for breakfast.

"Phil, Phil. Wake up - I think we have to wake up now," Dan whispered to Phil, replacing a pillow where his shoulder used to be underneath the boy's head. He considered fixing his fringe for him a little, but Phil had already started to wake up.

"Mmm... wha?" he stirred a bit, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses slowly and pushing down his blanket.

"Someone's going to come over here and get us our breakfasts."

"Brefass?"

"Yeah - time change thing like you said earlier."

"Oh." He was now slightly more awake, straightening his glasses and stretching a little. "How close are we?"

"We're about halfway through the other continent."

"So almost there?"

"Basically."

"Morning boys. Could I get you anything for breakfast?" The flight attendant had arrived to them.

"Do you have any cereal?" Phil asked.

"Just mini boxes. But I'm terribly sorry - we're all out of milk."

"That's fine, I'll just have... Fruit Loops?" They finished ordering, and soon had their meal.

"How do you just eat dry cereal like that?" Dan wondered, taking a bite of his jam toast.

"I dunno," Phil shrugged, "It's good."

"So dry cereal and coffee is supposed to fill you up?"

"I guess."

"You have no sense of decency." Dan finished his meal, but Phil seemed to be taking his time with his cereal. The flight attendant came around with the garbage, so he threw his trash out.

For the rest of the trip, Dan decided to continue reading his book, and Phil ended up sketching a bit more. It was sooner than later until the plane finally landed.

Before it completely landed, Dan quickly stuffed his stuff into his bag, not wanting to lose anything. Staring out the window, he drank in the scenery of the new country. It looked pretty warm outside, and there were little squares of farm fields.

The pilot was now on the speakers, thanking everyone for riding on  _United_  and the specifics of the city ( _The time is 8:16 AM, and it is currently 15 degrees Celsius_ ). Dan watched the new airport come into view, and felt the plane finally touch down for the first time in 8 hours.

It took a bit of waiting for the airplane to roll up to it's terminal, but at last everyone stood up to leave the cabin.

Stretching, Dan took his bag and held it to his shoulder possessively. He watched his family stand up, and his mother glance at him and flash him a smile.

Everyone began to leave the plane in an orderly fashion, Dan following Lester in front of him so that he wouldn't get separated from his family.

After thanking the pilot and flight attendants politely, his mother came up beside Dan and walked with him.

"Did you have a good flight?"

"Yeah. Did you, mum?"

"Oh, it was pretty nice. Did you get up at all?"

"Um... no actually."

"How? Weren't you restless? Or anything?"

"I guess I'm just used to it."

She sighed: "You should really go outside more."

"I do!" Dan protested. They were now following everyone to the Border Control to get their passports and papers checked.

"Actually, when everyone was sleeping, I got up once to go to the bathroom," Lillian mentioned.

"Um... okay."

"You and Phil are so cute you know - I took a picture."

"Mom!"

"What? Here, I'll show it to you," she took out her phone and flipped through her camera roll. She stopped on a picture of Phil cuddled up to Dan, who was leaning against Phil.

"Mum, delete it please," Dan blushed, covering his cheeks.

"Never," she smirked maliciously.

"Mum..."

"Okay - I solemnly swear that I'll never show it to anyone."

"Good."

"Mostly."

"I swear to god if I see it in your Facebook..."

"Okay okay fine. Only if someone asks about it." Dan glared at his mother, but she just giggled.

His father had finished with the police man, so the waited a bit for the Lesters to go to Baggage Claim.

Dan was still groggy, and so was Phil, so they didn't process anything very fast. Both were lazily standing beside each other, waiting for the belt to start up.

It finally did, but as expected the first one wasn't theirs.

Dan couldn't really process what was happening because he was still way too sleepy, but what he remembered next was getting his suitcase stuffed under a bus and getting on the bus with Phil.

And then falling asleep again to get just a few more hours of sleep.


	13. Phil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah btw im not dead or abandoning this story i promise ive just had severe writer's block for like a long time…

"Get up you lazy arse, we have to go now," was the first thing Phil heard after being rudely awakened from a slap to the face. Bringing up one arm up to his cheek, he felt the sting wake him up.

"Fuck off Dan," he mumbled, swatting in the general direction of that isolate prick. He didn't hit anything, and only got some laughter in return. How was he so awake?

"Better get going soon or the bus is going to take your ugly ass self across the country."

"I have a pretty bum," Phil mumbled, but got no answer. When he finally opened his eyes completely, he could see Howell already getting off the bus. Not wanting to be actually left behind, he jumped up and threw his backpack on, jogging down the empty aisle. 

"Jet-lagged? Tough, I know," the bus driver commented as Phil passed him, "Better hurry up or you're going to get left behind, kid." At least this guy was a cheerful fellow.

Phil muttered his awkward thanks, hopping off quickly and running after Howell.

Before running inside, he noticed the large hotel that they were staying in: Banff Park Lodge. The building itself was long and had 3 stories with a few shops inside, but other than that it looked pretty basic. This was also the only hotel on the street - the other bus passengers were probably dropped off on a different one. He quickly grabbed his suitcase that was lying abandoned beside the bus as he walked inside through the automatic doors.

The inside itself was much more magnificent. It was large and open and very cosy. His family and the Howells were waiting in line behind another small family and another couple who were trying to check in. Daniel was sitting on a couch, staring at his phone with a bored look plastered on his face. Damn, couldn't he even try to seem excited? Then again, he probably was a bit tired or something. Especially since the jet-lag kept on nagging him.

Phil went over to his parents to pathetically stand beside them like a toddler. He didn't really have anything to do - his backpack was too tiring to get anything out of at the moment and his phone was probably on 5% battery or something. Instead he stared at all the little details, like the wild animal figures all over the room and the large staircase across from the lobby desk leading up to some sort of breakfast area? Well... some sort of food place.

"You guys have room 221, in the same wing as us. We were lucky enough to have all reserved rooms on the same area - we're all right beside each other. Don't worry about anything: if you need anything we're in 223." Phil could tell that his father was talking to him, but he was too busy dazing off to pay too much attention. His mother was waving a little pocket with room keys in his face though, so he took it without hesitation.

"Aren't you going to give one to Dan?" his mum asked once Phil had pocketed it. Phil stared at her in disbelief. 

"Wha?"

"Were you not listening to us? You're sharing a room with Dan. Sorry we didn't tell you before, but we agreed with the Howells that it would be nice to have some sort of privacy... and, well... it would be nice for you two boys to get to know each other better." Knowing each other better could mean many things, and Phil's mind immediately went in the wrong direction of course. Shaking his head, he couldn't believe how cliche this weekend was unfolding in front of him. It was true - if they wanted to save expenses yet still wanted some sort of privacy this would've been a better way. Plus Phil didn't have to worry as much about staying up later.

"I- er... fine," Phil huffed, turning around and taking out one of the keys, going up to Howell. 

Tapping him on the head (the only thing that was restraining him from slapping him over the head was that he could feel both his and Dan's parent's eyes on him), he threw the card/key on his lap: "Room 221." Daniel growled at him and snatched the key up, hesitating to get up.

"There's no way I'm gonna be stuck with you for a whole week, confined in such a small place," Howell muttered as they made their way to the far wing, each dragging their suitcases behind them. Phil ignored him, glancing into a door that was locked but openable by their room keys that seemed to hold a pool area. That would be fun to check out later possibly.

So apparently they were in one of the 'wings' of the hotel. Phil didn't remember the name because he had been too tired to remember so many things, but he knew it was to the left side and down a really long corridor. At first the corridor only had shops and a bar on its sides, but once you passed a certain point, there were the first floor rooms.

Just as both he and Howell kept on walking straight foreword, the had to stop and turn around once they had realized they missed the lift, all of their parents waiting in front of it. Why did the lift have to be in a position where it was partially hidden? Oh well: Phil could see some sort of flight of stairs that probably led to the same floor farther down the corridor (but how willing was Phil to take the stairs often?).

The lift ride was long and pretty tense, the only person breaking the mood was Dan's mum, who could barely contain her excitement. She was beaming from ear to ear and seemed tempted to do the childish thing of jumping just before the elevator stopped. Maybe she made up as the child in the Howell family instead of Dan...? Unless maybe Howell was secretly like her? Phil was almost interested to find out.

The lift dinged as it stopped, the doors opening slowly to reveal a similar-looking hallway to the one they had just left. Same carpet, doors, walls. Phil was still dozing off, staring off into the distance, only moving when he realized he was one of the last people in the lift. He stumbled foreword, nudging Howell out of the way so he could be the first one out into the new corridor. He tugged roughly at his suitcase as it slowed on the carpet slightly.

Unfortunately, the staircase which Phil had seen previously was separated by the room corridors by doors, which they all had to hold open and drag their suitcases through, giving them a lot more effort than they wanted to give at the moment. However, once they reached the end of the hall, a door labelled 221 stood on the far wall. Phil's own parents went into 223, but Howell's parents went into 219. Basically they were surrounded. Phil couldn't process whether that was a good thing or not. 

As he fumbled with his own room key, trying to fit it in the slot, Phil could hear the wheels of Dan's luggage make their way through the carpet, stopping directly behind him. Sighing, the small light flashed green and beeped as he successfully opened the door. Finally he was inside.

Ditching both of his bags by the door and tugging off his shoes, Phil ran to the farthest bed closest to the desk and flopped face-first onto it. The duvet was impossibly soft and cool, making Phil sink further into it with comfort.

"Get up, we need to unpack and we're probably going to get lunch soon," Howell muttered, actually slapping Phil's ass (to be honest though, it was completely available in the middle of the bed, unshielded).

"I don wanna," he slurred sleepily, rolling onto his side. The other boy was sitting on his own bed - the one closest to the bathroom wall. Phil had claimed the one closest to the window/balcony. Since he knew Daniel was probably going to do nothing about his laziness though, he heaved himself up and went to go collect his bags and bring them beside his bed.

Even though it was still a normal, hotel-room size, the room itself was relatively spacious. As soon as you walked into the room, there was a large area with a marble counter-top, a mini-fridge and a sink for snack use and for getting ready in the morning, etc, and a closet beside the door with a safe, two bathrobes and a few hangers. The bathroom was just a few steps past that: somewhat fancy but clean and with a good, private door. Both beds were to the left of the room, and a TV on a dresser with a coffee maker to the right. Behind them were two sofa chairs and a table for work. All the way down the somewhat narrow room was a large window with a balcony that overlooked the road that went to the underground parking, but had some houses and some trees. There was a large mountain in the distance though. 

"Hey," Phil spoke up, not even glancing to the other kid in the room, "Are you gonna want one of these drawers?"

"Nah, I'm just going to use my suitcase - just don't come to the far side of my bed." Fair enough - there was barely enough space to squeeze through the crack between Howell's bed and the wall anyhow, and with his suitcase and clothes would make it even harder. Shrugging, Phil began stuffing his clothes and other items into the drawers - only throwing his laptop, phone and chargers onto his bed. Once he was finished, he threw his suitcase into the closet and threw his bag on one of the sofa chairs, going to charge both of his devices.

"Do you know the wifi password?"

"Nope," he replied truthfully, going over to check the hotel manual to see if it was helpful. Apparently you had to go to the reception desk and get it, probably for money.

"You have to go to the-"

"Well I'm not doing it."

"I'll ask my dad once we go for lunch."

"Lunch? And wait that long?"

"I thought they said that we were meeting outside at-" Phil glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed, "11:30. Which is in like 5 minutes."

"Oh. Whatever," Howell shrugged, finding the remote control to begin to browse and see if the television had anything good to offer.

"Are you changing?" Some lady was advertising deodorant on the TV, and then the channel switched to some stupid kids channel. The watermark said YTV. 

"What?" 

"Are you going to change for the restaurant?"

"Er- probably not. I'm comfortable enough."

"We've probably spent almost 24 hours in these clothes."

"Ehh, I don't care. Plus we're not going to really be going anywhere today, right?" The kid had a point. Phil would probably stay the same as well then. Sitting back on his bed, he watched Dan channel surf until their parents were knocking at their doors.

Standing up, Phil made his way over to the door to put his shoes back on, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses as he yawned. He was barely going to make it through the day - it was going to be just like school.

Swiping up his phone before closing the hotel room door behind him (24% would have to do), he joined everyone else in the corridor. Phil yawned once again, his hand hidden in his sweater sleeve barely covering it. He just realized how hipstery he probably looked with his polar bear print sweater, but they were on vacation and in a completely different country for him to care at all. He was spending the whole week with Howell of all people, but they were probably going to be finding out each other's smaller secrets that would be more worrisome. The polar bear sweater was nothing to worry about. 

Now that he thought about it, Phil wondered what secrets Dan had to offer. Probably not a lot.

They all went down the stairs that Phil had noticed, going out a small door to the front of the hotel beside other rooms' patios. No one stopped, running across the street to the building across.

"Heh, have you seen the name of the restaurant?" Howell chuckled, nudging Phil in the side with an elbow as they entered the restaurant. Glancing around, Phil found the name: Melissa's Missteak. 

"Oh my god are you kidding me," he mumbled under his breath as the other boy laughed again. Usually Phil was the one with the bad puns, but this town had already out-punned him.

"Table for 6 please," Phil's dad requested, the waitress at the end of the waiting hall nodding and muttering something. Shuffling back to the group, he handed Phil a menu: "Found this at the front. See what you want."

It didn't take long for them to get a table. Phil made sure he was sitting across and not beside Howell, and immediately ordered a coffee. 

Thank god the coffee came quick. As soon as the warm liquid ran down his throat, he could already feel himself wake up gradually. Wasn't it also supposed to be like 19 back in England? Like... past supper?

The coffee had probably also shaken Phil to his senses, because he had just realized that he had been gently nudging and tapping his foot against Dan's leg for the past 10 minutes to an unidentifiable beat. Stopping abruptly, he pulled his leg back and somewhat uncomfortably underneath him. Howell glanced up at him when he did this, but didn't say anything. Wait... why didn't he do anything before Phil did?

Forgetting quickly about the awkward internal moment as soon as the food came, Phil eagerly dug in. The Nutella crepes were amazing to say in the least. Not to mention how they were perfected with the icing sugar, whipped cream and strawberries. Howell just got a fancy omelette.

After the meal, Phil was happily full. They all had agreed that they would just rest for the day, but go to the Boston Pizza on a loft in the main street for supper. Other than that, they were free to do whatever they wanted (after getting the wifi of course).

Phil was the first one to open his laptop as Howell continued to aimlessly channel surf. As soon as he obtained the internet, he opened up KissAnime and searched for the last Haikyuu!! episode that he had missed (that had come out earlier in the day).

"Heyheyhey... what're you watching?" Howell asked, turning down the volume of the TV to hear the sound from Phil's laptop.

"The last episode of Haikyuu..."

"... Do you mind if I watch?" Polite much, but he was a fellow anime fanboy from what he had gathered so far. Maybe they could have something in common that would actually let them survive through the week.

"Fine," Phil slid over on his bed on his stomach, letting the other boy have some space as well, "And after that I also need to catch up on Fairy Tail..."

Howell shrugged: "Whatever. I'm only a few episodes behind - we can go from there." Phil wanted to protest, but he didn't say anything. Pushing his glasses up, he quickly adjusted the settings on his computer as Dan hugged a pillow that he was lying on top of, already getting comfortable.

A surprising amount of time passes when you watch TV shows, and supper approached quickly. Boston Pizza was pretty good, and they would probably go back for lunch or something. As they were walking back to the hotel, however, the went into an amazing Fudge shop. Phil got a large slice of oreo fudge and a pecan lolly thing, but Howell had only gotten a few of the other nut and chocolate treats that had nature-themed names.

Phil's parents had tried to persuade Phil to go and check out the new swimming pool, but he managed to tell them that he'd do it tomorrow or something since he was still jet-lagged with a very convincing yawn.

Back in the hotel room, Howell had already disappeared into the shower. The alarm clock said 8:36, but Phil's body clock said death. He had basically been awake for 20 hours now (not including the ones he had managed to sleep on the flight), and with school from yesterday made him feel exhausted. Plus it was already quite dark outside.

Letting the stupid-ass reality show characters drone and chirp on the television, he laid back on his bed and opened a mini box of cereal. He could text Peej... what time was it even there? Converting 8:30 to the 24 hour clock... nope, too much math for his brain at the moment. It was probably too early in the morning anyhow - especially for the weekend during Spring Break.

Listening to Muse right now would be so much more entertaining than the stupid 12-but-actually-8-year-old-actor girl with incredibly fake blonde hair and pink streaks and way too many clothes than necessary pretending she's better than everyone on the screen.

"You'd die quick in actual middle school, you stupid-ass bitch," Phil mumbled, popping more dry cereal into his mouth.

"Why are you eating dry Fruit Loops?" Howell was out of the shower.

"Because I- I... want to..." Phil trailed off, staring at the other boy. 

Dan was going towards his other side of the bed, rummaging through his clothes. All he had on was a fluffy white towel around his waist, and his now curly hair clung to his face from the water. Phil didn't know why he was reacting so much - he had seen him completely naked before. He almost forgot. Then again his sleep-drunk mind was probably acting up again. He shook his head lazily. All of this was stupid. The TV show and Dan's hair and Dan's abs and Dan's-

"Why the fuck are you watching this show anyways?"

Phil shrugged, stuffing more cereal into his mouth: "It was already on and I was too lazy to find the remote."

"Why cereal?"

"Cause I like it." Howell peered at him, glancing between his face and the cereal before disappearing under his towel, rubbing his hair to dry it off. He had changed into some grey boxer shorts and a white tee.

"Turn it off if you like."

"What?"

"You can turn off the TV," Phil repeated, "I'm going to sleep soon anyways." Howell shrugged, going over and switching off the screen.

"I'll probably go too - I had to wake up too early anyhow." He watched the other boy go back into the bathroom, and Phil dragged himself up to change into his pyjama bottoms.

Once he was snuggled up under the duvet and had taken off his glasses, Howell turned off the lights in the room and went to his bed, tucking himself in. He faced the wall, and Phil could tell he was still probably on his phone. Whatever. Phil was trying to get as much sleep as possible.

It wasn't long before he eventually did drop off to sleep, watching every toss and turn from the other boy.


	14. Dan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've disappeared for so long, and I finally updated this due to demand on Wattpad, but then I forgot about it here… but here it is I guess… and… well… I don't even know but don't expect regular chapters still…

Waking up to the loud noise of the phone ringing by his desk, he rolled over sleepily and groaned, hoping that Lester would answer instead. The other boy still had not moved.

Grumbling, Dan's hand shot out and landed on the phone, picking it up before the ringing stopped. He took a few moments to gather himself before he finally brought the phone to his ear.

"Mm?"

"Dan? Are you awake?" Sounded like his mum.

"Barely."

"Well you better get ready; we're going to go out soon!"

"What?"

"You heard me! Now chop chop rise and shine we'll be waiting for the two of you with breakfast before we head out in 15 minutes."

"What?!"

"Hurry up. See you in a few, sweetie." Before Dan could protest, the line was cut and he was left sitting up and staring blankly at the barren TV screen as his half-asleep mind tried to process what had been said.

"Shit," he muttered, practically throwing the phone back to where he had found it and chucking one of his own pillows at Lester, "Wake up you little shit." This time he finally received a reaction, the boy grumbling something and shifting.

"I said get up - we have to leave soon," Dan said, getting up and pushing the lazy boy. As soon as his hands made contact to his bare back, he could feel Lester's warmth travel up his arms and retreated them swiftly, rushing to get himself ready instead. He still wanted to have time to straighten his hair after all.

Being half asleep, Dan still managed to bump into a wall corner as he was turning around to get something. His nose was still sensitive from earlier, so tears unwillingly welled in his eyes as a stream of curses profusely exited his mouth. He could hear Lester also begin to mill around and get ready.

The next few minutes were a bit of a frenzy, each boy trying to get everything done before there was a knock at their door. They would occasionally bump into each other, but managed to avoid getting into each other's way knowing it would only slow them both down.

At last, there was the expected knock, and Phil, who was still struggling to button up his shirt, ran over to open it. Dan brushed his teeth faster than he was previously and spit before the door was opened. He was almost done, and barely had time to think of what could have been possibly planned for the day, which was probably a good thing for the time being.

"Ah, good. Looks like you boys are ready to get rolling. Want breakfast, Phil?" Dan's mum of course.

"Oh Lillian, there was really no need for you to get us all breakfast like that..." Phil's mum.

"It was no trouble, really! If you're really hung over this, you can always get breakfast tomorrow."

"Thank you, Mrs. Howell."

"Your son is so polite."

"I would like to think so."

Dan had finally managed to pretty much rip his phone off of his charger, gladly taking the bagel with cream cheese and apple his mum offered him. Closing the door behind him after pulling his shoes on, he jogged up to catch up with everyone else, bagel stuffed in his mouth.

"You look like a chipmunk," Phil sniggered.

"I'm hungry," Dan pouted defensively, making himself look even more like a rodent.

"Good thing you boys brought good shoes. You'll be needing them today," Phil's dad commented casually. Both boys glanced at each other, partially confused.

"What are we doing anyways?" Dan managed to force through with a mouth full of bagel.

His mum grinned deviously and Dan swallowed. This wasn't a good sign.

"We're going on a hike!" she announced happily, and Dan had to suppress a groan. Not good. At all. He was still partially asleep for Christ's sake. "Oh, but don't worry," she added in the hopes of being reassuring, "This is barely even a mountain, and it's actually the one right here in the town. Tunnel Mountain, I think it's called. It's a babies' hike." He didn't care if someone a decade and a half could climb the mountain easier than he could - a vacation usually meant no exercise.

"What does our star football player look so scared about?" Lester nudged him in the side teasingly, and Dan scowled at him.

"I can scale this easily. I just don't want to."

"Oh, come on. This is a... family activity. We're all in this together."

"Don't give me that crap. You know perfectly well that this is whole thing is... is a joint thing," Dan whispered to him angrily.

Phil hummed: "Yes, but you don't want to disappoint them either, do you?" Dan clicked his tongue, glancing in the opposite direction of the boy walking beside him. They were outside now, waiting for a van taxi to drive them the short distance to the mountain. The weather was apparently warm for the season with the sun barely warming their faces, but everyone still had to wear at least a light jacket. Dan hoped it wouldn't get colder at a slightly higher altitude, or however high this 'mountain' would get. He could see it above a few buildings and houses and trees, and it looked puny compared to the mountains the town was surrounded with.

Dan didn't pay attention to anything on the ride there (which was very minimal), and barely noticed when they had arrived. There was nothing really - barely even a beginning of a slope. Still, there were a bunch of cars parked around the car park where the taxi van had stopped, and a few signs here and there with the occasional group of people mulling around.

Utterly bored already, he stared around at anything he could, actively avoiding Lester already. It took him a while to realize, but he had gotten surprisingly friendly with that boy, and he had no idea what had gone over him. Once all the parents had begun moving towards the hike, backpacks hitched up on their shoulders, Dan and Phil followed everyone down the slowly narrowing path towards the top of the mountain.

Gradually, the slope became steeper and steeper, and the trees began to crowd around them. The air was fresh and crisp, and the silence that was held in the air was incredibly peaceful, broken only by the distant mutter of their parents up ahead and the crunching of both boys' shoes. Every once in a while a bird would chirp, and the wind would blow through the trees, but the lack of everything gave Dan's mind enough space to clear and think of anything he needed or not necessarily needed to.

Dan wasn't that sure if he was looking foreword to the trip if every day was going to be like this. His mind was starting to change though, because he was beginning to like the change of the literal scenery. So much was going on back at home and it was nice to finally get away from it. Well... most of it. Unfortunately some of it had followed him here. It wasn't too bothersome though as of now. Too bad he would have to get back to everything else at the end of the week.

He could hear the breath beside him become slightly uneven, and he noticed that not only had a lot of time (and distance) had passed, but the altitude and steepness had also gone up. Dan had had a bit more of physical build since he was a high school football player, but Phil wasn't obviously as lucky. Subconsciously, his strides began to slow, letting the other boy catch his breath a little.

His mind decided to go back to thinking again. So many things had happened between them, and they were just kinda chill now. Even though they hadn't occurred to him at the time, Dan was beginning to remember a lot of domestic and comfortable acts they had done around each other that they would have never done at home. Were they warming up to each other? What the fuck was happening? Dan was sure he had no clue what was going on.

Plus why were they suddenly acting so normal... no, more than that... friendly than they were before? I mean, maybe if they had been neutral, but with all of the shit that had gone down between them not even a week ago... it was insane. Thinking back, Dan chuckled a little at how things had gone for him. It was like fate was trying to push them together. To what though? Tear each other to pieces? So far it didn't seem to be working. Dan wasn't sure what to think.

"This last month has been weird," Lester spoke up, interrupting Dan's thoughts, but also speaking for them.

"Yeah?"

"I mean, with everything that's happe-"

"No, I know what you're on about."

"... You thinking about it too then?" So Phil was also thinking about it.

"Yeah."

Phil shrugged: "Well, it's as I said at the Tree - lets just try and not get anything between us and maybe pretend this never even happened."

"That's going to be impossible."

"Maybe."

"Plus I have a feeling we won't be able to just... you know... part ways."

"Just because we're in the same school-"

"That's not what I mean, dumbass."

"Not everyone can read your mind, Kageyama." Dan glared at him for using the Haikyuu!! reference. Not everything had to be about anime (well... not quite everything).

"I'm just saying... I mean, stuff has been weird between us, but like, it's like the weirdest feeling I get, I dunno, that something's pushing us together," he shrugged, trying not to make it sound so stupid.

"Hm, like fate?" Lester said in a mocking tone.

Dan shook his head: "Probably not. Fate doesn't exist. It's just... what are the chances of some of the things happening between us... well... happening?"

"Elaborate please."

"Well... I mean, I guess it kind of started with us getting seated together in Mr. Smith's classes. I don't think the dance at the party really counted."

"Mm."

"And things just got more and more ridiculous. Well, some of the things were things that we did... but like, the fact that you of all people uses the Tree as... as a, well a comfort spot I guess? Like what are the chances of it only being us that use that spot?"

"I just assumed we lived relatively near each other and know the area well."

"Well... maybe. But even the fact that we managed to warm up enough to be chill with each other on this trip? Like seriously - our dads are friends at work? And such good ones at that that they want to take both of their families across the world for a simple spring vacation trip? I mean, what kind of sicko is trying to force us together like that?"

"God? Fate? Destiny?" Phil teased, giggling a little bit. Dan shoved him playfully while trying hard to restrain his smile that threatened to crack.

"Shut it. I hate you, you know."

"I know you secretly love me," Phil winked.

"No I don't," he snapped, "I still get weird dreams from the time you gave me a concussion, and my nose is still sensitive if I so much as touch it."

"Don't forget I was hurt too," he replied innocently, referring to the pictures, "And what kind of dreams?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Why not?" Phil was met with silence, so he just sighed and continued walking in the rather blissful lack of noise in the air.

Dan had always wondered what the purpose of hikes were really for and how anyone could possibly enjoy them, but he was beginning to see why now. Everything was tranquil and pleasing. The smell of pine forest filled his nose, and the sun was just barely warm enough. Any colder and it would've been chilly. Every once in a while they would pass a small stream, the sound of water running around the little pebbles and down the mountain. Even though it was gradually taking a toll on his legs and energy, Dan couldn't help but feel refreshed and re-centred.

Finally getting to an open area and to find their parents across the rather flat surface, both boys joined them, hungry. Thank goodness their parents had brought a picnic of sandwiches and other small and easily portable snacks.

Taking their share and heading over a ways away from their parents, they sat down on a smooth but relatively clean rock to eat. They were pretty much on the top of the 'mountain' now, and there was a wonderfully clear sky above them. The trees were more scarce up here, letting an incredible view span out below them of the town.

Dan lay back, gratefully taking bites out of his sandwich. Maybe he wouldn't have to make an effort to enjoy this vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was a filler and so short, but I also want to mention that since I want to write a few doujinshi, to practice I'm probably going to make a few panels for this fic so yeah.


	15. Phil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> skiing lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg sorry its been so long - i finally got it out as a 'practice' of a narrative exam i have... today.... right... cause its like 1:24... okay... but trust me ever since i last updated ive been thinking about writing this chapter its actually kinda sad  
> also sorry its kinda half assed idk i didnt have the time

"O~~~kay, I'm _not_ ready for this!" Phil stated loudly, stretching and yawning.

Dan laughed, elbowing him in the side: "We're already here, dumbass. Whether you're ready or not."

"Skiing's great fun, boys. This is only the first time we're coming, you know," Dan's mum reminded them gleefully, "We still have the fortnight. Don't get too sore." She winked. Phil pretended to cough instead of snort. Dan ignored her.

"So we're finally here then?" Phil continued on sarcastically, pushing up his glasses, "After what, the hundredth car park or something?"

"Don't be silly, Phil - we're on a mountain. There's lots of places to get off to. The ski resort itself has to be higher up for the snow. Especially now that it's spring and kind of warm," Lillian added, "Don't sweat it, you boys will be skiing down drifts of snow in no time." She ended her statement with a warm smile before joining the rest of the parents.

"You look nice and warm, all bundled up," Phil smirked, turning to his companion. He had a weird hat with earflaps on it, a light skiing jacket, slim gloves and winter boots. 

"Shut up."

Phil was in similar attire - a toque, black snowpants, and mittens. He had forgotten to bring boots and he had left his jacket in the car in favor of his patterned sweater he was already sporting.

"Let's go," Dan huffed, walking away from the other boy to follow their parents away from their cars. Phil sighed before chasing after him.

The weather itself wasn't that bad at all: the snow was of a nice consistency (sticky but not melted), and the sun was just warm enough to keep them from being cold. The mountain air remained crisp and chill as Phil had found earlier that week on the hike.

Passing a large mountain map, Phil scanned it as they went by to plan out any routes that they would be taking. There was a small building to their left as they exited the parking lot, and a huge skiing lodge with large windows to their right and a bit farther down. The snow was crunching nicely underneath their feet as they headed towards the rental shop on the left (the fathers buying the lift passes), some of the wetness of the snow seeping through Phil's sneakers.

Once they were inside, the shop reeked of sweat, even though it was still the morning. Both boys automatically scrunched up their noses.

"Do you need any help with anything?" a man with a messy undercut and a five-o-clock shadow asked from behind a counter. He was approaching them, adjusting his beanie on his way to the four. He looked like the typical snowboarder and person to be working at a ski resort.

"Actually, yes in fact," Phil's mum piped up, "We were looking to rent some equipment."

"Do you have your passes?"

"Our husbands should be coming soon with them."

"That's alright, I'll just get you started then. Are you going to be skiing or snowboarding?"

"Skiing for us," Phil's mum offered.

"Same goes for us," Lillian added.

"Alright then! Skiing boots should be in those racks over there - just find your size and put your shoes where you found your boots and then come over to my counter over here when you're finished."

"You a skiier too? To be honest you look more like a snowboarder," Dan commented as they went over to their boot sizes, shifting through and picking out ones that caught their eye.

"Same goes for you. And I've always skied when my family went to the Alps. I can do more with two poles on my feet rather than a board." Phil slipped his damp shoes off and shoved them where he had found his boots, plopping down on a bench to try and tug them on, pulling off his mittens.

Dan had done the same, grunting as he tried putting on his own boots: "Yeah, that's about what happens with me too." The boots Phil had chosen were _just_ too small, so he went to go look for half a size bigger if anything. Switching his sneakers, he sat down and tried these ones, which turned out to already be a lot better. They fit snugly, but not loosely. The other boy had already finished, but had opted to wait for Phil instead. Phil only had to pull the snaps on, the boot shifting once the buckle snapped into place.

"Ready?"

"Sure," Phil nodded, getting up and wobbling a bit. Ski boots took a few seconds to get used to. At some point while they were trying their boots on both of their fathers had come back and were currently finding ski boots for themselves.

The boys waited in silence as Justin, the snowboard dude, adjusted their skis, making friendly conversation. Both would chat in turn with him, but always in a separate conversation.

As their parents paid for their rentals, Dan and Phil both took a helmet and poles, heading out to the lodge with the adult's permission. Ditching their skis at the racks, they went inside to scope the place out.

The lodge itself inside was huge: the ceilings raised high and the decor themed around wood and stone. There were large stone fireplaces in the center and at the back with fires ablaze within, warming a few chilled skiers and boarders. 

"We'll probably have lunch here," Phil offhandedly commented, looking towards the concession.

"Yeah."

"Too bad we still have to wait an hour give or take."

"Yeah."

"Wanna go do a run or two first then?"

"Sure. What can you do?"

"Greens mostly," Phil shrugged, "I did like two easy blues last time I went though."

"We could do those later if we want," Dan suggested, "I'm about the same level."

"Good to know we're on the same page with something then." Dan narrowed his eyes towards the boy, who was already waddling back out the door. He ran after him, his boots clunking on the floor awkwardly as he tried to catch up.

Phil examined the map that they had passed earlier, skis still back by the lodge. He pushed his glasses back up his nose: "Where do you wanna go first?"

"Hmm... to warm up wanna just go on the," Dan squinted at the names, "Sundance Conveyer? The green run Shenanigan should be good enough to test out the snow and all that fancy stuff."

"Pussy," he scoffed.

"Bitch you're at the same fucking level as me don't you fucking test me."

Phil laughed: "Sorry for pushing your buttons, seriously wow. Shenanigan it is then." Dan glared at him as they went back for their skis.

Unbalanced, they struggled slipping into their skis for the first time the whole morning. Slowly, they put the rest of their gear on (they had left their hats with their parents as there would be no where to put them). Grabbing their poles, they pushed themselves off across the flat ground to the closest ski lift.

"Jeez, it's been a long time," Dan groaned, leaning down to one side to stretch out his leg.

"Don't worry, we'll be on the lift soon." Luckily it wasn't that busy that morning (especially considering it was Spring Break and the incredible ski day conditions), and the line went relatively fast. Both boys were scuffling to chair before they knew it, ready for the chair to scoop their bums off their feet.

Once the bar was down and the ground was shrinking more and more underneath their feet, both relaxed back, swinging their legs a bit. Phil stared down at some skiers zipping down around a boarder class that was currently inching down the hill. Apparently they had 'ski hills' in the cities around the province or wherever they were, but he couldn't imagine what it would be like. Wouldn't hills be really small? Where would you find the space for everything anyways? Plus what would it be like without being surrounded by mountains and city instead? Canada was weird.

"It's nice being up here," Dan commented offhandedly. Phil didn't spare a glance towards him. "Like the hike we had, y'know?" The boy sighed and went silent.

"Ready?" Phil had spoken up again, but at the end of their trip, only to prepare for getting off the chair.

"Yeah, sure." They lifted the bar up and pushed themselves away so the chair didn't gently push any of their asses. Recollecting themselves and regrouping, they faced towards the hill, looking down.

"Nice scenery." Blunt comment. Dan seemed to have nothing better to say as Phil seemed to lack a desire to communicate. He was currently at peace with himself and didn't feel like speaking with anyone outside of necessities.

"We can do this one, one more, and then head inside for lunch, okay?" Phil instructed, playing with one of his poles in his mitted hand. 

Dan stared at him: "Erm, sure."

"Okay, I'm off then. Feel free to follow." Phil pushed off with his poles, not bothering to see if the other was following him. Not that it mattered anyways, because he could tell that Dan was keeping the same pace as him. They were pretty much on the same level after all, which would end up being easier for the two of them while they skied.

When he had first started to slope down steeply, Phil internally panicked, thinking that he'd forgotten how to ski. Obviously it wasn't that easy, and he quickly got into a rhythm of shifting his weight from foot to foot. His legs right at his hips were extremely sore from their lack of use otherwise, but that always happened and he'd get used to it eventually. He'd occasionally use his poles to guide him and speed himself up whenever he got stuck in a slower spot. Overall, for a first run, it was rather graceful, the wind rushing past his face - eyes protected by his glasses.

Once he reached the bottom of the hill, he didn't stop, but rather slowed down and guided himself back to the map. He could consciously feel Dan following behind him. As soon as they slowed a little too much, he used his remaining momentum and pushed himself foreword, half with his skis and half with his poles.

"How about," Dan panted, "We go on the route... between the trees... 6 and 11. Via the Cascade lift."

Phil shrugged: "Sounds good to me." Without wasting any more time, he turned around and started off towards the farther lift.

Getting onto the chair remained the same routine as with the Sundance Conveyer, yet somewhat more silent. It was only mildly awkward with the ride being a little longer this time round.

At the top, however, both waited a little longer.

"Think it's gonna snow today?" Phil finally broke the silence.

"Maybe. Not much. I think it already is, actually, but barely. Can't tell with this sun."

"Why'd they call it Norquay?"

"I dunno. Do you think it means anything?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Jeez, it's actually really sunny today though," Dan commented, attempting to take something out of his jacket pocket.

"You noticed."

"Yeah." He had taken out a pair of sunglasses and was in the process of putting them on before Phil caught sight of them and began to laugh. "What?"

"You look like fucking Karamatsu with those one."

"Shut the fuck up."

"At least I look like Sakamoto."

"Who the fuck is Sakamoto?"

"You don't know?"

Dan glided in front, stopping in front of the other: "I can lead this time - I'm pretty sure I know the way."

"You didn't answer my question."

"We have a large-ass mountain to ski down still. You can _enlighten_ me over lunch." And with that, Dan began to go down. Sighing, Phil followed him and his route.

This run proved to be more scenic, and maybe just a tad bit more difficult than the previous. At some point on their way down, Dan had decided to shout _All Star_ on his way down (to which Phil muttered _idiot_ yet smiled all the same). The whole spectacle in itself was even more amusing when he would get a glance of the boy's face, singing with sunglasses and all. There were a few times he'd kept himself from losing it right there on the hill.

Getting back to the lodge with growling stomachs and the thrill of the ride still buzzing in their chests (along with some cold), they ditched most of their skiing stuff out on the racks and went inside to find their families. Luckily they weren't too hard to find, and once they ditched the rest of their stuff (Dan had unfortunately left his Karamatsu glasses on), they took the unfamiliar money with them to buy some food.

"What do you wanna get?" Dad nudged Phil in line, "I think I'm just gonna stick with a cheeseburger or something."

"Wow, boringmatsu. Thought you were flashier than that," he teased, "I'm probably just going to get some samosas."

"Shut it, fappymatsu."

"Do I look like Choro?"

"Yes."

"I would like to think I'm more like Osomatsu."

"Assmatsu."

"Whatever." Grabbing their food, they struggled to pay for a bit before finding their way back near their parents. Both of their dads were laughing loudly at something, and Dan's mum was explaining something brightly. Both opted to stay a few tables away, closer to the end fireplace.

"Mmmm, the hot chocolate is great. It's warm," Dan hummed, sipping it with both hands around the coffee cup.

"Please take off your glasses at the table. We aren't even outside."

"Don't wanna~" Dan singsonged.

"Stop wallowing in the shade." Phil took a bite out of his own meal while the other reluctantly took off his sunglasses. "And you said that you didn't know _Sakamoto desu ga?_ "

"Nope. Who is he then?"

"He is everything Karamatsu wanted to be but couldn't."

"Amazing."

While they slowly ate lunch, they went on to talk about anime. That, in fact, happened to be the only common subject they apparently shared that they knew of and that didn't have anything to do with school. So that's what they went off of. They even remained branching off what they had been saying previously as they left for their skis again. 

Going down a few more times on the runs that they could from the Cascade, they decided to try a run from the Spirit lift. They would go down 9A and hopefully branch back down to 6 or 9, whichever they felt like doing when they came to it. The route would be longer and probably even more scenic than the previous ones available from the Cascade.

When they finally got on the lift, they resumed chatting. Both had wind-bitten cheeks, the red dusting across their faces. Much to Phil's dismay, the Karamatsu glasses had made a comeback, and he was trying his hardest to ignore them.

Once they had reached the top, they both glanced at each other before nodding and setting down the marked path: the Spirit High Traverse and then Speculation. 

The Spirit High Traverse was rather relaxed, both alternating from going slightly faster with the assistance of their poles and slowly gliding down the path.

"Earlier you said you were like Sakamoto, but I don't see how," Dan put mildly, skiing up next to his companion. 

"Hmm, let's see," he thought, "I'm cool without trying."

"That's a big fat lie."

"Oh really?" 

"Yeah. Prove it to me otherwise then." Phil went silent. There was one thing that he'd done a few times before on slightly easier slopes and was still terrified of doing, but it'd be worth it. Taking a deep breath, he turned around until he was gliding down the slope backwards.

"Haha~ look at me. This is totally cool and I bet you couldn't do it." Howell started at him. He couldn't tell that Phil's heart was going faster than it should've been at the moment, terrified of something going wrong. The pit of his stomach was twisting up uncomfortably, but he hadn't died yet and he only needed to wait a few more seconds to prove his point.

Watching Howell's eyes, he watched the boy glide from side to side. He watched his every movement through his peripheral vision, and almost missed his eyes widening in horror as Phil forgot to look back for a few moments too long. Phil could feel the blankness of the terror spread through him as he crashed backwards into a tree in slow motion. He watched Dan stop his skis abruptly as he fell to the ground, limp on the snow and pain searing up his leg and on his shoulder.

Desperately, he tried untwisting his legs so that they were in a more natural position. One of the skis had already popped off of his good leg, but he was still squirming in pain from his left foot. His head, on the other head, was already subsiding in pain - it was probably only a minor bruise compared to his ankle. Dan had taken off both of his skis and was running towards him, his poles thrown to the side.

Phil's vision was going a little hazy with the pain, but he could see Dan kneeling down by his obviously in-pain ankle and was struggling gently to remove the ski and then the boot. Once Phil barked out in pain as he had tried to remove the boot, he dropped it, opting to stand by the path to ask for help.

Just in luck, in no longer than 5 minutes, a couple stopped when they saw Dan's waving arms and later Phil helplessly laying on the ground. Laying on the cold, somewhat soft ground, Phil watched him talking with the couple, not quite able to hear what he was saying. After what looked like some sort of agreement, the couple sped off again with a more determined look on their face, Dan returning to Phil.

"They're going to get medics," he informed him, "We just have to wait a little." A pause. "It was a little cool, but maybe not as much as you thought it was going to be."

Phil laughed: "Yeah, right." He couldn't exactly argue with that statement - as much as he'd like to, Howell was right.

"Want me to try to get it off again?"

"...Sure."

Bracing for the pain, he bit his lip as Dan tugged the boot off a bit more gently than before. Soon he managed to slip it off with ease, tossing it to the side and sighing. Phil laid back, his sweater dampening further from the snow.

"Goddammit."

"On the bright side we won't be skiing on the second day," Dan suggested.

"We?"

" _'Ooh, I can stay with Phil. You guys can go on and have fun skiing. I'll make sure he's a good boy.'_ We get more time to chill or whatever. Walk around town instead of doing exercising."

"Walking _is_ exercising."

"It's not as tiring though."

"True." 

Howell had now settled with Phil's bad leg on his lap. He was pulling the snowpant leg up and taking the sock off to examine it.

"H-hey!"

Dan was careful not to drop or suddenly move Phil's leg: "Woah, chill dude. I'm just gonna do a basic check-up of it. I have a minor knowledge of this kind of stuff since I'm in sports. You should know that, dumbass." He relaxed, letting Dan's soft touches check where it was tender and where the bruises were forming. "Doesn't look like it's that serious - probably just a twist or something - but it'll still hurt like a bitch, amirite?" Phil chuckled in agreement, turning away to look at the route for the medics.

They didn't take that long to arrive, only a few seconds after their conversation ended. They were on a snowmobile, a stretcher on the back. Dan exchanged a few words with them before helping them pull Phil onto the stretcher, bringing all of Phil's rental supplies onto the snowmobile.

And with that, Phil was whisked away back down the hill, trying not to dwell on the pain too much. He could see Dan staring at him, growing more and more distant until he disappeared behind a patch of trees. He'd go back down normally, but would likely wait in the lodge or even go on a few more runs if anything. Relaxing, Phil watched everything pass like a dream.

  >•< 

Phil was finally back in the lodge: going back on crutches seemed to have taken a millennium.  His parents had already been notified, but he had shaken his head and insisted half a dozen times that he was completely fine and that there was no reason he should be taking away their skiing time. It had taken a while before they finally agreed to go and have fun for the rest of the day.

The first person Phil immediately spotted was Howell, who was sitting beside the fireplace on his phone. He rushed over to him as fast as he could on crutches. Once he was near enough, Howell glanced up, dropped his phone, and stood up quickly.

"You're okay?"

"You sound like a worried parent."

He smiled: "So you're good now?"

"As good as I'll ever be."

"On crutches?" he teased.

"Actually they wouldn't let me leave without crutches. I said I'd be fine without them."

"Mr. Tough, are we. So what was the verdict?"

"Just twisted, as you predicted. I probably overreacted."

"I've seen overreactions and trust me, you didn't."

Both stopped and then burst out laughing.

"Well we now have an extra day without the fam," Dan grinned cheekily, his dimples showing.

"Shame, I _really_ wanted to ski more," Phil added half sarcastically. "I'll be fine, though, don't you tear your hair out. I'll just be walking with a limp for the next few days." He gestured to his ankle that was relaxed and hanging in the air. His sneakers were back on, but you could see the ACE bandage wrap coming up over and around his ankle. "I'll have to ice it for a while though."

"The only way you'll ever be cool," Dan sighed mockingly, adding in a wink.

Phil lifted one of his crutches to hit the boy across the shins, becoming unbalanced for a few seconds: "Don't you fucking test me, Howell."

"You can't hurt me that bad when you're on crutches or have to limp. I'm also the sportiest - therefore the fastest runner."

"We'll just see about that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not sure if you've heard about the fort mac wildfires in alberta canada? they're not really anywhere near banff, but unfortunately kinda pretty near me. ive been a bit freaked out about them lately, and also especially from the fact that they keep getting closer and closer to me (i bet u like 10 bucks or something that therll be another wildfire within 100km of me in the next month or so). ive had international friends ask me if ive evacuated or not yet, and luckily i havent needed to, but if i ever do WORST CASE SCENARIO this will definitely not be updated anytime soon, because not only is it terrifying but natural disasters are my only fears other than the fear of losing things (literally anything/everything). so yeah... with exams coming up too im not rly in a good position...
> 
> oh and to add something it also may take a while cause i still want to do doujinshi thing for next chapter too ^-^


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